AVAILABLE  ON  FICH^ 


LIBRARY 

PBINCETO]<f,  N.  J. 
Divisinn 

No.  Case,  ,      , 

No.  Shelf,  ^^^'^•" 

No.  Book 


V,    I 

copy.   I 


THE  PENTATEUCH 


BOOK     OF     JOSHUA 


OEITIOALLT  EXAMINED. 


EIGHT  REV.  JOHN  WILLIAM  COLEKSO,  D.D., 

BISHOP   OF  NATAL. 


'  "We  can  do  nothing  against  the  Truth,  but  for  the  Truth.' — SI. Paul,  2  Cor.  xiii.  8. 

'Not  to  exceed,  and  not  to  fall  short  of,  facts, — not  to  add,  and  not  to  take 
away, — to  state  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth, — are  the 
grand,  the  vital  maxims  of  Inductive  Science,  of  English  Law,  and,  let  us  add,  of 
Christian  Faith.'— QMuc^er/;/  Review,  on  '  Essays  and  Reviews,'  Oct.  1861,  p.  369. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

443  &  445  BROADWAY. 
1863. 


PREFACE. 


The  circumstauces  under  which  this  book  has  been 
written,  will  be  best  indicated  by  the  following  extracts 
from  a  letter,  which  I  addressed  some  time  ago,  (though  I 
did  not  forward  it,)  to  a  Professor  of  Divinity  in  one  of  our 

English  Universities : 

'  My  remembrance  of  the  friendly  intercourse,  which  I 
have  enjoyed  with  you  in  former  days,  would  be  enough  to 
assure  me  that  you  will  excuse  my  troubling  you  on  the 
present  occasion,  Avere  I  not  also  certain  that,  on  far  higher 
grounds,  you  will  gladly  lend  what  aid  you  can  to  a  brother 
in  distress,  and  in  very  great  need  of  advice  and  assistance, 
such  as  few  are  better  able  to  give  than  yourself.  You  will 
easily  understand  that,  in  this  distant  colony,  I  am  far  re- 
moved from  the  possibility  of  converse  with  those,  who 
would  be  capable  of  appreciating  my  difficulties,  and  help- 
ing me  with  friendly  sympathy  and  counsel.  I  have  many 
fiiends  in  England ;  but  there  are  few,  to  whom  I  would 
look  more  readily  than  to  yourself,  for  the  help  which  1 
need,  from  regard  both  to  your  public  position  and  private 
character ;  and  you  have  given  evidence,  moreover,  in  your 


4:  PEEFACE. 

published  works,  of  that  extensive  reading  and  sound  judg- 
ment, the  aid  of  which  I  sjDecially  require  under  my  present 
circumstances. 

'  You  will,  of  course,  expect  that,  since  I  have  had  the 
charge  of  this  Diocese,  I  have  been  closely  occupied  in  the 
study  of  the  Zulu  tongue,  and  in  translating  the  Scriptures 
into  it.  Through  the  blessing  of  God,  I  have  now  trans- 
lated the  New  Testament  completely,  and  several  parts  of 
the  Old,  among  the  rest  the  books  of  Genesis  and  Exodus. 
In  this  M'ork  I  have  been  aided  by  intelligent  natives ;  and, 
having  also  published  a  Zulu  Grammar  and  Dictionary,  I 
have  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  language,  to  be 
able  to  have  intimate  communion  with  the  native  mind, 
while  thus  engaged  with  them,  so  as  not  only  to  avail  my- 
self freely  of  their  criticisms,  but  to  appreciate  fully  their 
objections  and  difficulties.  Thus,  however,  it  has  ha2")pened 
that  I  have  been  brought  again  face  to  face  with  questions, 
which  caused  me  some  uneasiness  in  former  days,  but  with 
respect  to  which  I  was  then  enabled  to  satisfy  my  mind  suf- 
ficiently for  practical  purposes,  and  I  had  fondly  hoped  to 
have  laid  the  ghosts  of  them  at  last  for  ever.  Engrossed 
with  parochial  and  other  work  in  England,  I  did  what, 
probably,  many  other  clergymen  ha^'e  done  under  similar 
circumstances, — I  contented  myself  with  silencing,  by  means 
of  the  specious  explanations,  which  are  given  in  most  com- 
mentaries, the  ordinary  objections  against  the  historical 
character  of  the  early  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
settled  down  into  a  willing  acquiescence  in  the  general 
truth  of  the  narrative,  whatever  difficulties  might  still  hang 
about  particular  parts  of  it.     In  short,  the  doctrinal  and 


PEEFACE.  5 

devotional  portions  of  the  Bible  were  what  were  needed 
most  in  pavocbial  duty.  And,  if  a  j)assage  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament formed  at  any  time  the  subject  of  a  sermon,  it  was 
easy  to  draw  from  it  practical  lessons  of  daily  life,  without 
examining  closely  into  the  historical  truth  of  the  narra- 
tive. It  is  true,  there  were  one  or  two  stories,  which  pre- 
sented great  difficulties,  too  prominent  not  to  be  noticed, 
and  which  were  brought  every  now  and  then  before  us  in 
the  Lessons  of  the  Church,  such  e.  g.  as  the  account  of  the 
Creation  and  the  Deluge.  But,  on  the  whole,  I  found  so 
much  of  Divine  Light  and  Life  in  these  and  other  parts  of 
the  Sacred  Book,  so  much  wherewith  to  feed  my  own  soul 
and  the  souls  of  others,  that  I  was  content  to  take  all  this 
for  granted,  as  being  true  in  the  main,  however  wonderful, 
and'as  being  at  least  capable,  in  an  extreme  case,  of  some 
sufficient  explanation. 

'  Here,  however,  as  I  have  said,  amidst  my  work  in  this 
land,  I  have  been  brouglit  face  to  face  with  the  very  ques- 
tions which  I  then  put  by.  While  translating  the  story  of 
the  Flood,  I  have  had  a  simple-minded,  but  inteUigent,  na- 
tive,— one  with  the  docility  of  a  child,  but  the  reasoning 
powers  of  mature  age, — look  up  and  ask,  'Is  ail  that  true? 
Do  you  really  beheve  that  all  this  happened  thus, — that  all 
the  beasts,  and  birds,  and  creeping  things  upon  the  earth, 
large  and  small,  from  hot  countries  and  cold,  came  thus  by 
pairs,  and  entered  into  the  ark  with  Noah  ?  And  did  Noah 
gather  food  for  them  all,  for  the  beasts  and  birds  of  prey, 
as  well  as  the  rest  ?  '  My  heart  answered  in  the  words  of 
the  Prophet,  '  Shall  a  man  speak  lies  in  the  Name  of  the 
Lord  ? '  Zech.  xiii.  3.     I  dared  not  do  so.     My  own  knowl- 


6  PKEFACE. 

edge  of  some  branches  of  science,  of  Geology  in  particular, 
had  been  much  increased  since  I  left  England ;  and  I  now 
knew  for  certain,  on  geological  grounds,  a  fact,  of  which  I 
had  only  had  misgivings  before,  viz.  that  a  Universal 
Deluge,  such  as  the  Bible  manifestly  speaks  of,  could  not 
possibly  have  taken  place  in  the  way  described  in  the  Book 
of  Genesis,  not  to  mention  other  difficulties  which  the  story 
contains.  I  refer  esjjecially  to  the  circumstance,  well 
known  to  all  geologists,  (see  Lyell's  Elementary  Geology, 
pp.  197,  198,)  that  volcanic  hills  exist  of  immense  extent  in 
Auvergne  and  Languedoc,  which  must  have  been  formed 
ages  before  the  Noachian  Deluge,  and  which  are  covered 
with  light  and  loose  substances,  pumice-stone,  &c.,  that 
must  have  been  swept  away  by  a  Flood,  but  do  not  exhibit 
the  slightest  sign  of  having  ever  been  so  disturbed.  Of 
course,  I  am  well  aware  that  some  have  attempted  to  show 
that  Noah's  Deluge  was  only  a  partial  one.  But  such  at- 
tempts have  ever  seemed  to  me  to  be  made  in  the  very 
teeth  of  the  Scripture  statements,  which  are  as  plain  and 
explicit  as  words  can  possibly  be.  Nor  is  anything  really 
gained  by  supposing  the  Deluge  to  have  been  partial. 
For,  as  waters  must  find  their  own  level  on  the  Earth's 
surface,  without  a  special  miracle,  of  which  the  Bible  says 
nothing,  a  Flood,  which  should  begin  by  covering  the  top 
of  Ararat,  (if  that  were  conceivable,)  or  a  much  lower 
mountain,  must  necessarily  become  universal,  and  in  due 
time  sweep  over  the  hills  of  Auvergne.  Knowing  this,  I 
felt  that  I  dared  not,  as  a  servant  of  the  God  of  Truth, 
urge  my  brother  man  to  believe  that,  which  I  did  not  my- 
self believe,  which  I  knew  to  be  untrue,  as  a  matter-of-fact, 


PEEFACE.  7 

historical,  narrative.  I  gave  him,  however,  such  a  reply  as 
satisfied  him  for  the  time,  without  throwing  any  discredit 
upon  the  general  veracity  of  the  Bible  history. 

'But  I  was  thus  driven, — against  my  will  at  first,  I  may 
truly  say, — to  search  more  deeply  into  these  questions ;  and 
I  have  since  done  so,  to  the  best  of  my  power,  with  the 
means  at  my  disposal  in  this  colony.  And  now  I  tremble 
at  the  result  of  my  enquiries,  rather,  I  should  do  so,  Avere 
it  not  that  I  believe  firmly  in  a  God  of  Righteousness  and 
Truth  and  Love,  who  both  '  IS,  and  is  a  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  him.'  Should  all  else  give  way  beneath 
me,  I  feel  that  His  Everlasting  Arms  are  still  under  me.  I 
am  sure  that  the  solid  ground  is  there,  on  which  my  feet 
can  rest,  in  the  knowledge  of  Him,  '  in  whom  I  live,  and 
m^ove,  and  have  my  being,'  who  is  my  '  faithful  Creator,'  my 
'  Almighty  and  most  Merciful  Father.'  That  Truth  I  see 
with  my  spirit's  eyes,  once  opened  to  the  hght  of  it,  as 
plainly  as  I  see  the  Sun  in  the  heavens.  And  that  Truth,  I 
know,  more  or  less  distinctly  apprehended,  has  been  the 
food  of  living  men,  the  strength  of  brave  souls  that  '  yearn 
for  light,'  and  battle  for  the  right  and  the  true,  the  support 
of  struggling  and  sorrow-stricken  hearts,  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  in  all  climes,  under  all  religions.' 

[The  letter  then  proceeded  to  state  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal difficulties  in  the  account  of  the  Exodus,  which  are  set 
forth  at  full  length  in  this  volume,  and  concluded  as  follows.] 

'  Will  you  oblige  me  by  telling  me  if  you  know  of  any 
books  which  to  your  own  mind  deal  with  these  questions 

satisfactorily,  or,  rather,  will  you  kindly  direct  Messrs. 

to  send  to  me  the  book  or  books  you  may  recommend,  with 


8  PREFACE. 

others  which  I  have  ordered  from  them  ?  Among  the  rest, 
I  have  sent  for  He]N"gstenberg's  book  on  the  Pentateuch, 
which  I  see  commended  in  a  remarkable  article  in  the 
Quarterly  on  'Essays  and  Reviews.'  That  article,  how- 
ever, appears  to  me  to  shrink  from  touching  the  real  ques- 
tion at  issue,  and,  instead  of  meeting  the  essayists  with 
argument,  to  be  chiefly  occupied  with  pitying  or  censuring 
them.  Certainly,  there  are  not  a  few  points  on  which  I 
differ  strongly  from  those  writers.  But  I  cannot  think  it  to 
be  a  fair  way  of  proceeding  to  point  out,  as  the  apparent 
consequence  of  the  course  they  are  pursuing,  that  it  Avill 
necessarily  lead  to  infidelity  or  atheism.  It  maybe  so  Avith 
some ;  must  it  therefore  be  so  with  all  ?  The  same,  of 
course,  might  have  been  said,  and  probably  was  said,  freely, 
and  just  as  truly,  by  the  Jews  of  St.  Paul  and  others,  and, 
in  later  times,  by  members  of  the  Romish  Church  of  our  own 
Reformers.  Our  duty,  surely,  is  to  follow  the  Truth,  whei*- 
ever  it  leads  us,  and  to  leave  the  consequences  in  the  hands 
of  God.  Moreover,  in  the  only  instance,  where  the  writer 
in  the  Quarterly  does  attemjDt  to  remove  a  difficulty,  he 
explains  away  a  miracle  by  a  piece  of  thorough  '  neologian- 
ism,' — I  mean,  where  he  accounts  for  the  sun  '  standing 
still,'  at  the  word  of  Joshua,  by  referring  to  '  one  of  the . 
thousand  other  onocles,  by  which  God's  mighty  power  could 
have  accomplished  that  miracle,  rather  than  by  the  actual 
suspension  of  the  unbroken  career  of  the  motion  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  in  their  appointed  courses,'  which  last  the 
Bible  plainly  speaks  of  to  a  common  understanding,  though 
the  writer  seems  not  to  believe  in  it.* 

*  So,  too,  Archd.  Pratt  writes,  Scripture  and  Science  not  at  variance,  p. 


PREFACE.  9 

'  After  reading  that  article,  I  felt  more  hopelessly  than 
ever  how  hollow  is  the  ground,  upon  which  we  have  so  long 

25  _'  The  accomplishment  of  this  [miracle]  is  supposed  hij  some  [N.  B.]  to 
have  been  by  the  arresting  of  the  earth  in  its  rotation.  In  what  other  words, 
then,  could  the  miracle  have  been  expressed?  Should  it  have  been  said,  '  So 
the  earth  ceased  to  revolve,  and  made  the  sun  appear  to  stand  still  in  the 
midst  of  heaven  ? '  This  is  not  the  language  we  should  use,  even  in  these 
days  of  scientific  light.  Were  so  great  a  wonder  again  to  appear,  would  even 
an  astronomer,  as  he  looked  into  the  heavens,  exclaim,  '  The  earth  stands 
still ! '  ?  Would  he  not  be  laughed  at  as  a  pedant  ?  Whereas,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  appearances,  and  thus  to  imitate  the  style  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
themselves,  would  be  most  natural  and  intelligible.' 

It  will  bo  observed  that  Archd.  Pratt  does  not  commit  hhnselfto  main- 
taining the  above  view  :  he  says,  '  it  is  supposed  by  some  '  to  have  been  ac- 
complished thus.  But  he  argues  as  if  this  explanation  were  possible,  and  not 
improbable ;  that  is  to  say,  he  lends  the  weight  of  his  high  position  and 
mathematical  celebrity  to  the  support  of  a  view,  which  every  natural  phi- 
losopher will  know  to  be  wholly  untenable.  For, — not  to  speak  of  the  fact 
that  if  the  earth's  motion  were  suddenly  stopped,  a  man's  feet  would  be  ar- 
rested, while  his  body  was  moving  at  the  rate  (on  the  equator)  of  1,000 
miles  an  hour,  (or,  rather,  1,000  miles  a  minute,  since  not  only  must  the  earth's 
diurnal  rotation  on  its  axis  be  stopped,  but  its  annual  motion  also  through 
space,)  so  that  every  human  being  and  animal  would  be  dashed  to  pieces  in  a 
moment,  and  a  mighty  deluge  overwhelm  the  earth,  unless  all  this  were  pre- 
vented by  a  profusion  of  miraculous  interferences, — one  point  is  at  once  fatal 
to  the  above  solution.  Archd.  Pratt  quotes  only  the  words,  '  So  the  sun  stood 
still  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day  ; ' 
and  although  this  is  surely  one  of  the  most  prominent  questions,  in  respect 
of  which  it  is  asserted  that '  Scripture  and  Science  are  at  variance,'  he  dismisses 
the  whole  subject  in  a  short  note,  and  never  even  mentions  the  moon.  But 
the  Bible  says,  '  The  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon  stayed, '  Jo.  x.  13 ;  and 
the  arresting  of  the  earth's  motion,  while  it  might  cause  the  appearance  of 
the  sun  '  standing  still,'  would  not  account  for  the  moon  '  staying.' 

It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  the  force  of  Archd.  Pratt's  own  observation,  p. 
30, '  The  lesson  we  learn  from  this  example  is  this  :  How  possible  it  is  that, 
1* 


10  PREFACE. 

been  standing,  with  reference  to  the  subject  of  the  Inspira- 
tion of  Sci'ipture.  I  see  that  there  is  a  very  general  de- 
mand made  ujjon  the  clerical  authors  of '  Essays  and  Re- 
views,' that  they  should  leave  the  Church  of  England,  or, 
at  least,  resign  their  preferments.  For  my  own  part,  how- 
ever much  I  may  dissent,  as  I  do,  from  some  of  their  views, 
I  am  very  far  indeed  from  judging  them  for  remaining,  as 
they  still  do,  as  ministers  within  her  j^ale, — knowing  too 
well,  by  my  own  feelings,  how  dreadful  would  be  the 
Wi'ench,  to  be  torn  from  all  one  has  loved  and  revered,  by 
going  out  of  the  Church.  Perhaps,  they  may  feel  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  the  Church  itself,  and  to  that  wiiich  they  hold 
to  be  the  Truth,  to  abide  in  their  stations,  unless  they  are 
formally  and  legally  excluded  from  them,  and  to  claim  for 
all  her  members,  clerical  as  well  as  lay,  that  freedom  of 
thought  and  utterance,  which  is  the  very  essence  of  our 
Protestant  religion,  and  without  which,  indeed,  in  this  age 
of  advancing  science,  the  Church  of  England  would  soon 
become  a  mere  dark  prison-house,  in  which  the  mind  both 
of  the  teacher  and  the  taught  would  be  fettered  still  with 
the  chains  of  past  ignorance,  instead  of  being,  as  we  fondly 
believed,  the  very  home  of  religious  liberty,  and  the  centre 
of  life  and  light  for  all  the  world.  But,  whatever  may  be 
the  fate  of  that  book  or  its  authors,  it  is  surely  impossible 
to  put  down,  in  these  days,  the  spirit  of  honest,  truth- 
seeking  investigation  into  such  matters  as  these.  To  at- 
tempt to  do  this,  would  only  be  like  the  futile  endeavour 
to  sweep  back  the  tide  which  is  rising  at  our  very  doors. 

even  while  we  are  contending  for  truth,  our  minds  may  be  enslaved  to  error 
by  long-cherished  prepossessions ! ' 


PEEFACE.  11 

This  is  assuredly  no  time  for  such  trifling.  Instead  of  try- 
ing to  do  this,  or  to  throw  up  sandbanks,  which  may  serve 
for  the  present  moment  to  hide  from  our  view  the  sweUin"- 
waters,  it  is  plainly  our  duty  before  God  and  Man  to  see 
that  the  foundations  of  our  faith  are  sound,  and  deeply  laid 
in  the  very  Truth  itself. 

'  For  myself,  if  I  cannot  find  the  means  of  doing  away 
with  my  present  difficulties,  I  see  not  how  I  can  retain  my 
Ejiiscopal  Office,  in  the  discharge  of  which  I  must  require 
from  others  a  solemn  declaration,  that  they  '  unfeignedly 
believe  all  the  Canonical  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,'  which,  with  the  evidence  now  before  me,  it  is 
impossible  wholly  to  believe  in.* 

'  I  need  not  say  to  you  that,  whatever  support  and  com- 
fort I  may  feel  in  the  consciousness  of  doing  what  appeal's  to 
be  right,  it  would  be  no  light  thing  for  me,  at  my  time  of 
life,  to  be  cast  adrift  upon  the  world,  and  have  to  begin 
life  again  under  heavy  pressure  and  amidst  all  unfavourable 
circumstances, — to  be  separated  from  many  of  my  old 
friends,  to  have  my  name  cast  out  as  evil  even  by  some  of 
them,  and  to  have  it  trodden  under  foot,  as  an  unclean 
thing,  by  others,  who  do  not  know  me,  not  to  speak  of  the 
pain  it  would  cause  me  to  leave  a  work  like  this,  which  has 
been  committed  to  me  in  this  land,  to  which  my  whole 
heart  and  soul  have  been  devoted,  and  for  which,  as  it 
seemed,  God  had  fitted  me  in  some  measure  more  than  for 
others, — a  work  in  which  I  would  joyfully  still,  if  it  jDlease 
God,  spend  and  be  spent. 

*  This  was  written  before  the  recent  decision  of  the  Court  of  Arches,  by 
which,  of  course,  the  above  conclusion  is  materially  affected. 


12  PEEFACE. 

'  But  God's  Will  must  be  done.  The  Law  of  Truth  must 
be  obeyed.  I  shall  await  your  reply,  before  I  take  any 
course,  which  may  commit  me  in  so  serious  a  matter.  And 
I  feel  that  I  shall  do  right  to  take  time  for  careful  delibera- 
tion. Should  my  difficulties  not  be  removed,  I  shall,  if  God 
will,  come  to  England,  and  there  again  consult  some  of  my 
friends.  But  then,  if  the  step  must  be  taken,  in  God's 
Name  I  must  take  it ;  and  He  Himself  will  provide  for  me 
future  Avork  on  earth,  of  some  kind  or  other,  if  He  has 
work  for  me  to  do.' 

The  above  letter  I  wrote,  but  did  not  forward,  in  the 
early  part  of  1861.  I  had  not  then  gone  so  deeply  into  the 
question  as  I  have  done  since.  And,  as  I  do  not  wish  to  be 
misunderstood  by  some,  whom  I  truly  esteem  and  love, — 
to  whom  I  owe  all  duty  and  resj)ect,  but  allegiance  to  the 
Truth  above  all, — I  may  here  say  that,  at  the  time  Avhen  I 
took  counsel  with  my  Episcopal  Brethren  at  the  Capetown 
Conference  in  January,  1861, 1  had  not  even  begun  to  enter 
on  these  enquiries,  though  I  fully  intended  to  do  so  on  my 
return  to  Natal.  Then,  however,  I  had  not  the  most  dis- 
tant idea  of  the  results  to  which  I  have  now  arrived.  I 
am  sensible,  of  course,  that,  in  stating  this,  I  lay  myself 
open  to  the  objection,  that  the  views,  which  I  now  hold, 
are  comparatively  of  recent  date,  and,  having  been  adopted 
within  less  than  two  years,  may  be  found  after  a  while  un- 
tenable, and  be  as  quickly  abandoned.  I  do  not  myself  see 
any  probability  or  possibility  of  this,  so  far  as  the  main 
question  is  concerned,  viz.  the  unhistorical  character  of  the 
story  of  the  Exodus,  which  is  exhibited  in  the  First  Part 
of  this  work.     But,  however  this  may  be,  I  have  thought 


PREFACE.  13 

it  right  to  state  the  simple  truth.  And,  though  these  views 
are,  comparatively  speaking,  new  to  me, — and  will  be  new, 
as  I  believe,  to  most  of  my  English  readers,  even  to  many 
of  the  Clergy,  of  whom,  probably,  few  have  examined  the 
Pentateuch  closely  since  they  took  Orders,  while  parts  of 
it  some  of  them  may  never  really  have  studied  at  all, — yet 
I  am  by  this  time  well  aware  that  most  of  the  points  here 
considered  have  been  already  brought  forward,  though  not 
exactly  in  the  present  form,  by  various  continental  writers, 
with  whom  the  critical  and  scientific  study  of  the  Scriptures 
has  made  more  progress  than  it  has  yet  done  in  England.* 
Some,  indeed,  may  be  ready  to  say  of  this  book,  as  the 
Quarterly  says  of  the  Essayists,  'the  whole  apparatus  is 
drawn  bodily  from  the  German  Rationalists.'  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  case ;  and  I  will,  at  once,  state  plainly  to 
what  extent  I  have  been  mdebted  to  German  sources,  in 
the  original  composition  of  this  work.  Having  determined 
that  it  was  my  duty,  without  loss  of  time,  to  engage  myself 
thoroughly  in  the  task,  of  examining  into  the  foundations 
of  the  current  belief  in  the  historical  credibility  of  the 
Mosaic  story,  I  wrote  to  a  friend  in  England,  and  requested 
him  to  send  me  some  of  the  best  books  for  entering  on  such  a 
course  of  study,  begging  him  to  forward  to  me  books  on  both 

*  Hengstenbeug  is  very  fond  of  representing  almost  all  his  opponents  as 
followers  f  De  Wette  : — '  They  supply  themselves  very  freely  from  his 
stores,  and  have  made  scarcely  the  least  addition  to  them.'  Pent.  ii.  p.  3. 
This,  if  true,  would  tend  to  diminish  the  force  of  their  multiplied  testimony, 
and  to  n.'duce  it  to  the  single  voice  of  De  Wette.  But  the  sa»t«  difBculties, 
if  they  really  exist,  must,  of  course,  occur  toa^^,  who  bring  a  fair  and  search- 
ing criticism  to  bear  upon  the  subject,  however  they  may  difler  in  their  mode 
of  statiiic;  them. 


14  PKEFACE. 

sides  of  the  question,  '  both  the  bane  and  the  antidote.'  He 
sent  me  two  German  works,  Ewald  {Geschichte  des  Volkes 
Israel,  7  vols.)  and  Kurtz  [History  of  the  Old  Covenant, 
3  vols.),  the  former  in  German,  the  latter  in  an  English 
translation  [Clark's  Theol.  Libr.),  and  a  book,  which  main- 
tarns  the  ordinary  view,  of  the  Mosaic  origin  and  historical 
accuracy  of  the  Pentateuch,  with  great  zeal  and  abiUty,  as 
will  be  seen  by  the  numerous  extracts  which  I  have  made 
from  it  in  the  body  of  this  work.  On  receiving  these  books, 
I  laid,  for  the  present,  Ewald  on  the  shelf,  and  devoted 
myself  to  the  close  study  of  Kurtz's  work, — with  what 
result  the  contents  of  this  volume  will  show.  I  then  grap- 
pled with  EwALD's  book,  and  studied  it  diligently,  the  parts 
of  it,  at  least,  which  concern  the  O.  T.  history.  It  certainly 
displays  an  immense  amount  of  erudition,  such  as  may  well 
entitle  it  to  be  called,  as  in  the  Ed.  Review  on  'Essays  and 
Reviews,'  a  'noble  work.'  But,  with  respect  to  the  Penta- 
teuch, anyone,  who  is  well  acquainted  with  it,  will  perceive 
that  my  conclusions,  on  many  important  points,  differ  mate- 
rially from  his.  Besides  these,  I  had,  at  first,  two  books  of 
Hengstenbeeg,  on  the  Psalms  and  on  the  Christology  of 
the  0.  T.  And  these  comprised  the  Avhole  of  my  stock  of 
German  Theology,  when  the  substance  of  this  book  was 
written.  Since  then,  however,  and  whUe  rewriting  it  with 
a  view  to  publication,  De  Wette's  Einleitung,  and  Bleek's 
excellent  posthumous  work,  Einleitung  in  das  A.  T.,  have 
come  into  my  hands.  I  have  also  carefully  studied  the  most 
able  modern  works,  written  in  defence  of  the  ordinary 
view,  such  as  Hexgstenberg's  Dissertations  on  the  Gen- 
uineness of  the  Pentateuch,  Havernick's  Introduction  to 


PREFACE.  15 

the  0.  T;  &c.,  with  what  effect  the  contents  of  the  jDresent 
work  will  show.  At  a  still  later  period,  I  have  been  able 
to  compare  my  results  with  those  of  Kuenen,  in  his  His- 
torisch-Kritisch  Onderzoek,  of  Avhich  Part  I,  on  the  Histor- 
ical Books  of  the  O.  T.,  has  just  been  published  at  Leyden, 
(Sejjjt.  1801,) — a  work  of  rare  merit,  but  occupied  wholly 
with  critical  and  historical  questions,  such  as  do  not  come 
into  consideration  at  all  in  the  First  Part  of  the  present 
work.  And,  since  my  return  to  England,  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  consulting  Dr.  Davidson's  Introduction  to 
the  O.  7!,  Vols.  I  and  II,  the  most  able  work  which  has  yet 
appeared  in  England  on  the  subject  of  Biblical  Criticism. 

It  will  be  observed  that  I  have  quoted  repeatedly  from 
Kurtz,  Hengstenberg,  &c.,  as  well  as  from  English  works 
of  eminence,  written  in  support  of  the  ordinary  view.  I 
have  made  these  quotations  on  principle,  in  order  that  the 
reader  may  have  before  him  all  that,  as  far  as  I  am  aware, 
can  be  said  by  the  best  writers  on  that  side  of  the  question, 
and  may  perceive  also  that  I  have  myself  carefully  consid- 
ered the  arguments  of  such  writers,  and  have  not  hastily 
and  lightly  adopted  my  present  views ;  and  I  have  often 
availed  myself  of  their  language,  in  illustration  of  some 
point  occurring  in  the  course  of  the  enquiry,  as  being  not 
only  valuable  on  account  of  the  information  given  on  good 
authority,  but  liable  also  to  no  suspicion  of  having  been 
composed  from  my  own  point  of  view,  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  my  argument. 

Being  naturally  nnwilling  in  my  present  position,  as  a 
Bishop  of  the  Church,  to  commit  myself  even  to  a  friend 
on  so  grave  a  subject,  if  it  could  possibly  be  avoided,  I 


16  PREFACE. 

determined  to  detain  my  letter  when  written,  for  a  time,  to 
see  what  effect  further  study  and  consideration  would  have 
upon  my  views.  At  the  end  of  that  time, — in  a  great 
measure,  by  my  being  made  more  fully  aware  of  the  utter 
helplessness  of  Kurtz  and  Hengste:n:berg,  in  their  endeav- 
ours to  meet  the  diflBculties,  which  are  raised  by  a  closer 
study  of  the  Pentateuch, — ^I  became  so  convinced  of  the 
unhistorical  *  character  of  very  considerable  portions  of  the 
Mosaic  narrative,  that  I  decided  not  to  forward  my  letter 
at  all.  I  did  not  now  need  counsel  or  assistance  to  relieve 
my  own  personal  doubts;  in  fact,  I  had  no  longer  any 
doubts ;  my  former  misgivings  had  been  changed  to  cer- 
tainties. The  matter  was  become  much  more  serious.  I 
saw  that  it  concerned  the  whole  Church, — not  myself,  and 

*  I  use  the  expression '  unhistorical '  or '  not  historically  true '  throughout, 
rather  than  '  fictitious/  since  the  word  '  fiction  '  is  frequently  understood  to 
imply  a  conscious  diskonesti/  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  an  intention  to  deceive. 
Yet,  in  writing  the  story  of  the  Exodus,  from  the  ancient  legends  of  his  peo- 
ple, the  Scripture  writer  may  have  had  no  more  consciousness  of  doing  wrong 
or  of  practising  historical  deception,  than  Homer  had,  or  any  of  the  early 
Roman  annalists.  It  is  we,  who  do  him  wrong,  and  do  wrong  to  the  real  ex- 
cellence of  the  Scripture  story,  by  maintaining  that  it  must  be  historically 
true,  and  that  the  writer  vieant  it  to  be  received  and  believed  as  such,  not 
only  by  his  own  countrymen,  but  by  all  mankind  to  the  end  of  time.  Besides 
which,  it  should  be  remembered  always  (as  a  friend  has  very  justly  observed) 
that,  '  in  forming  an  estimate  of  ancient  documents,  of  the  early  Scriptures 
especially,  we  are  doing  that,  which  is  like  examining  judicially  the  case  of 
one  who  is  absent,  and  unable  to  give  his  account  of  the  matter.  We  should 
be  very  scrupulous  about  assuming  that  it  is  impossible  to  explain  satisfac- 
torily this  or  that  apparent  inconsistency,  contradiction,  or  other  anomaly, 
and  charging  him  with  dishonesty  of  purpose,  considering  that  ours  is  an  ex 
parte  statement,  and  incapable  of  being  submitted  to  the  party  against  whom 
it  is  made.' 


PREFACE.  17 

a  few  more  only,  whose  minds  might  have  been  disturhed 
by  making  too  much  of  minor  difficulties  and  contradic- 
tious, the  force  of  which  might  be  less  felt  by  others.  It 
was  clear  to  me  that  difficulties,  such  as  those  which  are  set 
forth  in  the  First  Part  of  this  book,  would  be  felt,  and 
realised  in  their  full  force,  by  most  intelligent  Englishmen, 
whether  of  the  Clergy  or  Laity,  who  should  once  have  had 
them  clearly  brought  before  their  eyes,  and  have  allowed 
their  minds  to  rest  upon  them.*  I  considered,  therefore, 
that  I  had  not  a  right  to  ask  of  my  friend  privately  before- 

*  The  following  passage  is  written  with  a  just  appreciation  of  that  'love 
of  positive,  objective  truth,'  which  marks  at  least,  if  it  does  not  specially 
distinguish,  the  English  character.  I  cannot,  however,  give  my  assent  to 
the  closing  words,  which  I  have  italicised,  with  the  examples  of  Lycurgus, 
Numa,  Zoroaster,  <fcc.,  before  me. 

'  One  great  characteristic  of  Englishmen, — the  characteristic,  in  fact,  on 
which  they  may  justly  rest  their  claims  to  a  foremost  (indeed  tTd  foremost) 
position  among  the  representative  races  of  humanity,  is  the  belief  in,  and 
the  love  of,  positive,  objective  truth.  .  .  .  The  Englishman  may  be  narrow- 
minded  or  prejudiced,  unapt  to  deal  with  abstract  speculations.  But  he  has, 
at  least,  had  this  training, — be  has  been  accustomed  to  weigh  evidence,  to 
seek  for  matter-of-fact  truth  in  tlie  first  place,  and  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the 
good  faith  and  correct  information  of  those,  from  whom  he  expects  to  re- 
ceive knowledge  or  instruction.  One  thing  with  him  is  fixed  and  certain ; 
whatever  else  is  doubtful,  this  at  least  is  sure  :  a  narrative  purporting  to  be 
one  of  positive  facts,  which  is  wholly  or  in  any  essential  or  considerable  por- 
tion untrue,  can  Tiave  no  connection  with  the  Divine,  and  cannot  have  any 
hencficial  influence  on  mankind.' — Rev.  Preb.  Cook,  Aids  to  Faith,  p.  146. 

To  the  same  effect  writes  the  Rev.  H.  J.  Rose,  Replies  to  Essays  and  lie- 
views,  p.  65 : — 

'  We  must  never  forget  the  difference  between  the  German  and  the  Eng- 
lish mind.  The  paradise  of  the  German  appears  to  consist  in  unlimited  li- 
cense of  speculation,  while  ihn  practical  element  is  the  prevailing  character- 
istic of  the  English.    And  thus  it  often  happens  that  a  German  will  not  cast 


18  PREFACE. 

hand  a  reply  to  my  objections,  with  respect  to  which,  as  a 
Divinity  Professor,  he  might,  perhaps,  ere  long  be  required 
to  express  his  opinion  in  his  pubhc  capacity. 

Tliis  conviction,  which  I  have  ari'ived  at,  of  the  certainty 
of  the  ground  on  which  the  main  argument  of  my  book 
rests,  (viz.  the  proof  that  the  account  of  the  Exodus,  what- 
ever value  it  may  have,  is  not  historically  true,)  must  be 
my  excuse  to  the  reader  for  the  manner  in  which  I  have 
conducted  the  enquiry.  A  friend,  to  whom  I  had  submitted 
the  work,  before  I  had  decided  to  publish  it,  was  afraid  that 
I  might  give  offence  by  stating  too  plainly  at  the  outset  the 
end  which  I  had  in  view.  He  thought  then — though  now 
approving  fully  of  the  course  which  I  am  taking — that  such 
an  open  declaration  of  the  sum  and  substance  of  my  work 
'might  tend  to  prejudice  the  reader,  and  probably  make 
him  more  inclined  to  become  hardened  against  the  force  of 
the  arguments.'  And  he  suggested  that  I  might  do  more 
wisely  to  conceal,  as  it  were,  my  purpose  for  a  time,  and 
lead  the  reader  gradually  on,  till  he  'would  arrive  of  him- 
self, almost  unawares,'  at  the  same  conclusions  as  my  own. 
But,  however  judicious  for  a  merely  rhetorical  j)urj)ose  such 
a  course  might  have  been,  I  could  not  allow  myself  to  adopt 
it  here,  in  a  matter  where  such  very  important  consequences 
are  involved.  I  must  state  the  case  plainly  and  fully  from 
the  first.  I  do  not  wish  to  take  the  reader  by  surprise  or 
to  entrap  him  by  guile.     I  wish  him  to  go  forward  with  his 

off  a  certain  phase  of  faith,  when  he  has  demolished  every  ground,  ivhich  an 
Englishman  ivould  deem  a  rational  and  logical  foundation  for  holding  it.' 

To  this  strong,  practical  love  of  truth  iu  my  fellow-countrymen,  whether 
Clergy  or  Laity,  I  appeal  iu  the  present  volume. 


PREFACE.  19 

eyes  open,  and  to  watch  carefully  every  step  of  the  argu- 
ment, with  a  full  consciousness  of  the  momentous  results  to 
which  it  leads,  and  with  a  determination  to  test  severely^ 
Avith  all  the  power  and  skill  he  can  bring  to  the  work,  but 
yet  to  test  honestly  txud/aii'li/,  the  truth  of  every  inference 
which  I  have  drawn,  and  every  conclusion  to  which  I  have 
arrived.  As  Dr.  Mobeelt  has  well  said,  {Some  Remarks 
on  Essays  and  Reviews) — 

Those,  who  have  the  means  of  knowing,  must  not  be  content  with  a  re- 
ligion on  sufferance.  The  difficulties  must  be  solved,  and  the  objections  must 
be  met,  when  they  are  produced  in  a  serious  and  argumentative  form.  p.  xxv. 

A  serious  statement  of  difficulties  is  a  thing  to  be  highly  respected  and 
seriously  replied  to ;  and,  as  to  discussion,  it  would  show  great  want  of  con- 
fidence in  what  we  believe  to  be  the  truth  of  God,  if  we  were  afraid  of  al- 
lowing it,  or  of  entering  upon  it,  when  gravely  purposed  and  conducted. 
f.  Ixiii. 

So,  too,  a  plain  and  full  statement  of  the  case  has  been 
loudly  called  for  by  the  most  strenuous  English  defenders 
of  the  ordinaiy  view  of  Scripture  Inspiration.  Thus  the 
Rev.  J.  W.  BuKGON  writes,  Inspiration  and  loiterpretation^ 
X>.  xxxvi, — 

We  desiderate  nothing  so  much  as  '  searching  enquiry.'  ...  If  the  writer 
would  state  a  single  case  with  its  evidence,  we  should  know  how  to  deal  with 
him.  We  should  examine  his  arguments  seriaiim,  and  either  refute  them, 
or  admit  their  validity.  From  such '  free  handling '  the  cause  of  sacred  Truth 
can  never  suffer. 

And  Prof  Mansel  writes,  Aids  to  Faith,  p.  12  : — 

Let  us,  at  the  outset,  be  clearly  convinced  of  the  vital  importance  of  the 
question,  in  order  that  we  may  enter  on  its  examination,  prepared,  if  ne- 
cessary, to  sacriflce  our  most  valued  convictions  at  the  demand  of  Truth, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  so  convinced  of  their  value,  as  to  be  jealous  of  sacri- 
ficing them  to  anything  but  Truth. 


20  PREFACE. 

I  have,  therefore,  decided  that  it  was  my  duty  to  give 
no  '  uncertain  sound,'  but  to  set  down  openly  at  the  outset 
the  nature  of  the  issue  involved ;  and  I  trust  that  any  plain- 
ness of  sj)eech  in  this  respect  Avill  not  be  misinterpreted  by 
my  readers,  as  implying  any  wish  or  readiness  on  my  part 
to  utter  what  it  may  be  painful  to  them,  in  their  present 
state  of  mind,  to  hear.  If  my  conclusions,  indeed,  were 
only  speculations,  if  they  were  only  matters  of  higher  or 
\o\\'Q.x lyrobcibil'dy^  I  feel  that  I  should  have  no  right  to  ex- 
press them  at  all  in  this  way,  and  thus,  it  may  be,  disturb 
painfully  the  faith  of  many.  But  the  main  result  of  my  ex- 
amination of  the  Pentateuch, — viz.  that  the  narrative,  what- 
ever may  be  its  value  and  meaning,  cannot  be  regarded  as 
historically  true, — is  not — unless  I  greatly  deceive  myself — 
a  doubtful  matter  of  speculation  at  all ;  it  is  a  simple  ques- 
tion oi  facts. 

That  the  phenomena  in  the  Pentateuch,  to  which  I  have 
drawn  attention  in  the  first  instance,  and  which  show  so  de- 
cisively its  unhistorical  character,  have  not  yet,  as  far  as  I 
am  aware,  been  set  forth,  in  this  form,  before  the  eyes  of 
English  readers,  may,  perhaps,  be  explained  as  follows: — 

(i)  Some  of  these  difficulties  would  only  be  likely  to  oc- 
cur to  one  in  the  same  position  as  myself,  engaged  as  a 
Missionary  in  translating  the  Scriptures,  and,  therefore, 
compelled  to  discuss  all  the  minutest  details  with  intelligent 
natives,  whose  mode  of  life  and  habits,  and  even  the  nature 
of  their  country,  so  nearly  correspond  to  those  of  the  an- 
cient Israelites,  that  the^very  same  scenes  are  brought  con- 
tinually, as  it  were,  before  our  eyes,  and  vividly  realised  in 


PREFACE.  21 

a  practical  point  of  view  ^  in  a  way  in  which  an  EngHsh  stu- 
dent wovild  scarcely  think  of  looking  at  them. 

(ii)  Such  studies  as  these  have  made  very  little  progress 
as  yet  among  the  Clergy  and  Laity  of  England ;  and  so  the 
English  mind,  with  its  practical  common-sense,  has  scarcely 
yet  been  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  Add  to  which,  that 
the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language  has,  till  of  late  years, 
been  very  much  neglected  in  England  in  modern  times. 

(iii)  The  difficulties,  which  have  been  usually  brought 
forward  in  England,  as  affecting  the  histoi'ical  character  of 
the  Pentateuch,  are  those  which  concern  the  Creation,  the 
Fall,  and  the  Deluge  ;  and  many,  who  feel  these  difficulties 
very  strongly,  are  able  to  get  over  them,  by  supposing  the 
first  two  to  embody  some  kind  of  allegorical  teaching,  and 
the  last  to  be  a  report  of  some  dread  catastrophe,  handed 
down  in  the  form  of  a  legend  from  hoar  antiquity,  without 
questioning  at  all  the  general  historical  truth  of  the  story 
of  the  Exodus,  upon  which  such  important  consequences 
depend.  Hence  such  minds  are  little  impressed  by  discus- 
sions mooted  upon  these  points,  and,  indeed,  are  rather  ir- 
ritated by  having  these  questions  brought  before  them  at 
all,  when,  as  they  think,  they  can  be  fairly  disposed  of. 

(iv)  Thus  it  is  that  English  Books,  upon  the  historical 
credibility  of  the  Mosaic  narrative,  are  at  present  very  few, 
and  still  fewer  those,  which  treat  tlie  subject  with  the  rev- 
erence due  to  a  question,  which  involves  the  dearest  hopes, 
and  fondest  beliefs,  of  so  many ;  while  others  again,  as  the 
essays  in  '  Aids  to  Faith '  and  '  Replies  to  Essays  and  Re- 
views,' which  are  written  in  defence  of  the  ordinary  view, 
while  professing  a  desire  for  candid  and  free,  though  rever- 


22  PEEFACE. 

ential,  examination  of  the  subject,  yet  pass  by  entirely  the 
main  jjoints  of  difficulty,  as  if  they  were  AvhoUy  unknown 
to  the  writers. 

(v)  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  works  of  the  (so-called) 
orthodox  German  writers,  Havernick,  Kurtz,  Hejstgsten- 
BERG,  Keil,  &c.,  which  are  now  being  translated,  and  pub- 
lished in  ClarJc's  TJieological  Library,  might  before  long 
have  effected  indirectly  a  considerable  change  in  the  cur- 
rent theology  of  England,  by  its  being  seen  how  feebly  they 
reply  to  some  of  the  more  striking  objections,  which  occur 
on  a  close  study  of  the  Pentateuch, — and  which  many  an 
English  reader  wUl  often  learn  first  from  these  very  attempts 
to  answer  them, — and  also  how  often  they  are  obliged,  by 
the  force  of  the  Truth  itself,  to  abandon  ground  long  held 
sacred  in  England,  of  which  several  instances  will  appear 
in  the  body  of  this  book.  But,  even  then,  these  portions  of 
their  works  are  often  so  overlaid  with  a  mass  of  German 
erudition,  in  illustration  of  other  questions  of  no  consequence, 
about  which  there  is  no  doubt  or  dispute,  that  the  reader 
is  carried  on  from  one  real  difficulty  to  another,  without 
being  exactly  satisfied  on  each  point  as  he  passes,  but  yet 
without  feeling  very  forcibly  the  failure  in  each  pai'ticular 
instance,  his  attention  being  distracted,  and  his  patience 
and  perseverance  often  rather  painfully  tasked,  in  the  labor 
of  going  through  the  intermediate  matter. 

(vi)  On  the  other  hand,  writers  of  the  liberal  school  in 
Germany  take  so  completely  for  granted, — either  on  mere 
critical  grounds,  or  because  they  assume  from  the  first  the 
utter  impossibility  of  miracles  or  supernatural  revelations, 
— the  unhistorical  character  and  non-Mosaic  orio^in  of  the 


PREFACE.  23 

greater  portion,  at  least,  if  not  the  whole,  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, that  they  do  not  generally  take  the  trouble  to  test 
the  credibility  of  the  story,  by  entering  into  such  matter- 
of-fact  enquiries,  as  are  here  made  the  basis  of  the  whole 
argument. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  a  very  wide- 
spread distrust  does  exist  among  the  intelligent  Laity  in 
England,  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  ordinary  view  of  Scrip- 
ture Inspiration.  But  such  distrust  is  generally  grounded 
on  one  or  two  objections,  felt  strongly,  perhaps,  but  yet 
imperfectly  apj)rehended,  not  on  a  devout  and  careful  study 
of  the  whole  question,  with  deliberate  consideration  of  all 
that  can  be  said  on  both  sides  of  it.  Hence  it  is  rather 
secretly  felt,  than  openly  expressed  ;  though  it  is  sufficient- 
ly exhibited  to  the  eye  of  a  reflecting  man  in  many  outward 
signs  of  the  times,  and  in  none  more  painfully  than  in  the 
fact,  which  has  been  lamented  by  more  than  one  of  the 
English  Bench  of  Bishops,  and  which  every  Colonial  Bish- 
op must  still  more  sorrowfully  confess,  that  the  great 
body  of  the  more  intelligent  students  of  our  Universities 
no  longer  come  forward  to  devote  themselves  to  the  service 
of  the  Church,  but  are  drafted  off  into  other  professions. 
How  can  it  be  otherwise,  when  in  an  age  like  the  present, 
— which  has  been  well  described  as  one  '  remarkable  for 
fearlessness,  and,  it  may  be  hoped,  for  sincerity,  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth,'  (Rev.  Preb.  Cook,  Aids  to  Faith.,  p.  133,) 
— the  very  condition  of  a  young  man's  entering  the  Ministry 
of  the  Church  of  England  is,  that  he  surrender  henceforth 
all  freedom  of  thought,  oi',  at  least,  of  utterance,  upon  the 


24  PKEFACE. 

great  questions  which  the  age  is  rife  in,  and  solemnly  hind 
himself  for  life  to  '  believe  unfeignedly  in  all  the  Canonical 
Scriptures ; '  while  he  probably  knows  enough  already  of 
o-eoloo-y,  at  all  events,  if  not  of  the  results  of  critical  en- 
quiry, to  feel  that  he  cannot  honestly  profess  to  believe  in 
them  implicitly  ?  *  The  Church  of  England  must  fall  to 
the  ground  by  its  own  internal  weakness, — by  losing  its 
hold  upon  the  growing  intelligence  of  all  classes, — unless 
some  remedy  be  very  soon  applied  to  this  state  of  things. 
It  is  a  miserable  policy,  which  now  prevails,  unworthy  of 
the  Truth  itself,  and  one  which  cannot  long  be  maintained, 
to  '  keep  things  quiet.' 

Meanwhile,  a  restraint  is  put  upon  scientific  enquiry  of 
every  kind,  by  the  fear  of  transgressing  in  some  way  the 
bounds,  which  the  Scripture  statements  are  supposed  to 
have  set  to  such  sj)eculations,  and  by  the  necessity  of 
propitiating  to  some  extent  the  popular  religious  feeling  on 
the   subject.!     Men   of  science,    generally,  have   not   the 

*  This  passage  I  have  written,  notwithstanding  the  relief  given  to  the 
consciences  of  many  of  the  clergy  by  Dr.  Lushixgton's  recent  judgment, 
because,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  answer  in  the  Ordination  Service  is  not  the 
only  part  of  our  formularies,  that  will  be  generally  understood,  until  explain- 
ed by  judicial  authority,  to  involve  implicit  belief  in  the  historical  truth  of 
the  facts  recorded  in  the  Pentateuch. 

+  A  remarkable  illustration  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that,  even  in 
such  a  work  as  the  English  translation  of  Humboldt's  Cosmos,  'undertaken 
in  compliance  with  the  wish  of  Baron  von  Humboldt,'  '  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  Lieut.  Col.  Edward  Sabine,  E.A.,  For.  Sec.  R.S.,'  an  important 
passage  is  omitted  altogether,  in  which  the  expression  of  the  author's  views,  as 
to  the  origin  of  the  human  race  from  one  pair,  would  have,  perhaps,  offended 
the  religious  prejudices  of  English  readers.  That  the  passage  in  question 
was  not  suppressed,  by  reason  of  any  change  of  view  in  Humboldt  himself. 


PKEKAOE.  25 

leisure  to  pursue  very  far  for  themselves  such  investigations 
as  these.  Aud,  if  meu  of  devout  minds,  they  will  feel 
obliged  to  acquiesce,  more  or  less,  in  the  dicta  of  the 
Church  aud  the  Clergy,  while  conscious  oftentimes  that  such 
dicta  are  painfully  at  variance  wnth  truths,  which  they  have 
begun  to  glimpse  at  as  the  results  of  their  own  researches. 
They  may  proceed,  and,  probably,  very  many  do  proceed, 
far  enough  to  see  that  there  is  something  hollow  in  the 
popular  belief,  and  that  the  modern  view  of  Scripture  In- 
spiration cannot  possibly  be  true  in  all  points.  But  the 
work  of  examining  into  its  truth  or  falsehood  is  a  work  for 
theologians,  not  for  natural  philosophers,  and,  to  be  done 
thoroughly,  it  requires  great  labour  and  a  special  training. 
Hence  they  will  probably  drop  the  subject  altogether,  some 
sinking  into  practical,  if  even  unavowed,  unbelief  of  the 
Avhole  Mosaic  story,  as  told  in  the  Pentateuch,  others 
smothering  up  their  misgivings  with  a  general  assumption 
that  the  account  must  be  substantially  true  ;  while  there  are 
very  many,  who  appreciate  to  some  extent  the  difficulties 
of  the  ordinary  view,  but  yet  are  nnable  to  satisfy  them- 
selves that  it  is  wholly  untenable,  and  live  in  a  state  of 

is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  is  found  in  the  French  translation,  and  the  trans- 
lator, M.  Faye,  states  as  follows :  '  Another  part,  relative  to  the  great  question 
of  human  races,  has  been  translated  by  M.  Guignaut.  This  question  was 
foreign  to  my  habitual  studies.  Moreover,  it  has  been  treated  in  the  German 
work  with  such  superiority  of  views  and  of  style,  that>M.  de  Humboldt  had 
to  seek,  among  his  friends,  the  man  most  capable  of  giving  its  equivalent  to 
French  readers.  M.  de  Humboldt  naturally  addressed  himself  to  M.  Guign- 
aut ;  and  this  savant  has  been  pleased  to  undertake  the  translation  of  the  last 
ten  pages  of  the  text,  as  well  as  of  the  corresponding  note.'  (See  Indigenous 
Jiaces  qff/ie  Earth,  Trubuer  and  Co.,  Loudon,  p.  402-409.) 
2 


26  PKEFACE. 

painful  uncertainty,  which  they  would  gladly  have  termi- 
nated, tliough  even  by  the  sharp  pang  of  one  decisive 
stroke,  which  shall  sever  their  connection  with  it  once  and 
for  ever. 

I  believe  that  there  are  not  a  few  among  the  more 
highly  educated  classes  of  society  in  England,  and  multi- 
tudes among  the  more  intelligent  operatives,  who  are  in 
danger  of  drifting  into  irreligion  and  practical  atheism, 
under  this  dim  sense  of  the  unsoundness  of  the  popular 
view,  combined  with  a  feeling  of  distrust  of  their  spiritual 
teachers,  as  if  these  must  be  either  ignorant  of  facts,  which 
to  themselves  ai'e  patent,  or,  at  least,  insensible  to  the 
difficulties  which  those  facts  involve,  or  else,  being  aware 
of  their  existence,  and  feeling  their  importance,  are  con- 
sciously ignoring  them.  It  has  been  said  by  some,  '  Why 
make  this  disturbance  ?  Why  publish  to  the  world  matters 
like  these,  about  which  theologians  may  have  doubts  ? ' 
I  answer,  that  they  are  not  theologians  only,  who  are 
troubled  with  such  doubts,  and  that  we  have  a  duty  to 
discharge  towards  that  large  body  of  our  brethren, — how 
large  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but,  probably,  much  larger 
than  is  commonly  imagined, — who  not  only  doubt,  but  dis- 
believe, many  important  parts  of  the  Mosaic  narrative,  as 
well  as  to  those,  whose  faith  may  be  more  simple  and  un- 
enquiring,  though  not,  therefore,  necessai'ily,  more  deep 
and  sincere,  than  theirs.  We  cannot  expect  such  as  these 
to  look  to  us  for  comfort  and  help  in  their  religious  per- 
plexities, if  they  cannot  place  entire  confidence  in  our 
honesty  of  purpose  and  good  faith, — if  they  have  any  reason 


PKEFACE.  27 

to  suppose  that  we  are  willing  to  keep  back  any  part  of  the 
truth,  and  are  afraid  to  state  the  plain  facts  of  the  case. 

On  this  subject  I  commend  to  the  reader's  attention 
the  following  admirable  remarks  of  Archbishop  Whately, 
[Bacon^s  Essays,  with  Annotations,  p.  11): — 

We  are  bound  never  to  countenance  any  erroneous  opinion,  however 
•seemingly  beneficial  in  its  results, — never  to  connive  at  any  salutary  delusion 
(as  it  may  appear),  but  to  open  the  eyes  (when  opportunity  offers,  and  in 
proportion  as  it  offers)  of  those  we  are  instructing,  to  any  mistake  they  may 
labour  under,  though  it  may  be  one  which  leads  then  ultimately  to  a  true 
result,  and  to  one  of  which  they  might  otherwise  fail.  The  temptation  to 
depart  from  this  principle  is  sometimes  excessively  strong,  because  it  will 
often  be  the  case  that  men  will  be  in  some  danger,  in  parting  with  a  long- 
admitted  error,  of  abandoning,  at  the  same  time,  some  truth  they  have  been 
accustomed  to  connect  with  it.  Accordingly,  censures  have  been  passed  on 
the  endeavours  to  enlighten  the  adherents  of  some  erroneous  churches,  on 
the  ground  that  many  of  them  thence  become  atheists,  and  many,  the  wildest 
of  fanatics.  That  this  should  have  been  in  some  instances  the  case,  is  highly 
probable ;  it  is  a  natural  result  of  the  pernicious  effects  on  the  mind  of  any 
system  of  blind  unenquiring  acquiescence.  Such  a  system  is  an  evil  spirit, 
which,  we  must  expect,  will  cruelly  rend  and  mangle  the  patient  as  it  comes 
out  of  him,  and  will  leave  hiui  half  dead  at  its  departure.  There  will  often 
be,  and  oftener  appear  to  be,  danger  in  removing  a  mistake — the  danger  that 
those,  who  have  been  long  used  to  act  rightly  on  erroneous  principles,  may 
fail  of  the  desired  conclusions  when  undeceived.  In  such  cases,  it  requires 
a  thorough  love  of  truth,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Divine  support,  to  adhere 
steadily  to  the  straighi  course.  If  we  give  way  to  a  dread  of  danger  from 
the  inculcation  of  any  truth,  physical,  moral,  or  religious,  we  manifest  a 
want  of  faith  in  God's  power,  or  in  the  will  to  maintain  His  own  cause. 
There  may  be  danger  attendant  on  every  truth,  since  there  is  none  that  may 
not  be  perverted  by  some,  or  that  may  not  give  offence  to  others  ;  but,  in  the 
case  of  anything  which  plainly  appears  to  be  truth,  every  danger  must  be 
braved.  We  must  maintain  the  truth  as  we  have  received  it,  and  trust  to 
Him,  who  is  '  the  Truth,'  to  prosper  and  defend  it. 

That  we  shall  indeed  best  further  His  cause  by  fearless  perseverance  in  an 


28  PKEFACE. 

open  and  straight  course,  I  am  firmly  persuaded.  But  it  is  not  only  when 
we  ;perceive  the  mischiefs  of  falsehood  and  disguise,  and  the  beneficial 
tendency  of  fairness  and  candour,  that  we  are  to  be  followers  of  truth.  The 
trial  of  our  faith  is  when  we  cannot  perceive  this ;  and  the  part  of  a  lover  of 
truth  is,  to  follow  her  at  all  seeming  hazards,  after  the  example  of  Him,  who 
*  came  into  the  world,  that  He  should  bear  witness  to  the  Truth.' 

For  such  persons  especially,  as  I  have  indicated  above, 
I  have  written  this  book,  and  for  all,  who  would  really  see 
and  know  the  actual  Truth  in  this  matter.  I  have  desired 
to  set  before  the  reader  at  full  length  the  arguments,  by 
which  I  have  been  myself  convinced  upon  the  subject,  and 
to  take  him  with  me,  as  it  were,  along  the  path,  which  I 
have  followed  in  the  search  after  the  Truth.  It  is  not 
sufficient  merely  to  make  general  statements,  or  to  refer  to 
this  or  that  writer,  as  having  irrefragably  proved  the  truth 
of  certain  results.*  I  have  washed  to  enable  the  reader  to 
satisfy  his  own  mind  on  each  point  as  it  arises,  precisely  as 
I  have  satisfied  mine,  by  a  thorough  discussion  of  all  that 
can  be  said  on  both  sides  of  the  question. 

*  This  is  a  great  defect  in  more  than  one  of  the  Essays  contained  in  the 
'Aids  to  Faith,'  arising  chiefly,  no  doubt,  from  the  very  wide  extent  of 
ground  which  the  whole  controversy  covers,  and  the  limited  space  that  could 
be  allotted  for  each  individual  reply.  But  it  is  very  unsatisfactory  to  be  told, 
f.  24S,  that  'it  has  been  shown  by  Havernick,'  or,/).  240, that  'Hengsten-. 
BERG  has  established  beyond  all  possibility  of  refutation' some  point  under 
consideration,  when  (as  will  appear  in  numberless  cases  in  the  course  of  this 
work)  an  actual  quotation  and  discussion  of  the  arguments  used  in  such 
cases  would  very  probably  show  that  they  are  anything  but  conviucing  or 
indisputable.  So,  too,  the  Essays,  above  referred  to,  deal  for  the  most  part 
with  general  questions,  upon  which  it  is  easy  to  say  much  that  is  very  true, 
and  would  be  readily  admitted,  at  least  by  one  arguing  from  my  point  of 
view ;  whereas  the  details  of  the  Scripture  narrative,  in  which  the  real  dif- 
ficulties lie,  are  left  by  these  writers  for  the  most  part  unnoticed. 


PKEFACE.  29 

Much  labour  has  thus  been  bestowed,  in  the  course  of 
this  work,  in  exposing  the  fallacy  of  very  many  of  the 
arguments,  Avhich  have  been  adduced  by  Hengstenbeeg 
and  others,  in  support  of  the  ordinary  view.  With  refer- 
ence to  this  point  I  sympathise  entirely  with  the  sentiments 
expressed  in  the  following  extract,  quoted  in  Types  of 
Mankind^  Trubuer  and  Co.,  p.  655  : — 

We  should  feel  a  hiuniliation  to  contend  with  such  sophistries  seriously 
and  in  detail,  were  we  not  firmly  convinced  that  to  do  so  is  not  merely  the 
most  legitimate,  but  also  the  only,  mode,  by  which  truth  can  be  rendered 
permanently  triumphant.  Wit  and  sarcasm  may  obtain  a  temporary  success ; 
they  may  awaken  minds  otherwise  prepared  for  freedom ;  but  they  are  often 
unjust,  usually  unbenevolent,  and  consequently,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
they  merely  awaken  antagonism,  and  cause  men  to  cling  with  increased  fond- 
ness to  their  opinions.  Nothing  but  minute,  searching,  inexorable  argument 
will  ever  obtain  a  speedy  or  a  permanent  triumph  over  deep-seated  prejudices. 

And,  although  by  adoi^ting  this  course,  I  have  necessarily 
increased  the  size  of  my  book,  I  could  not  do  otherwise, 
if  I  would  effectually  compass  the  end  which  I  have  in  view, 
and  place  the  whole  subject  fairly  and  fully  within  the 
grasp  of  any  earnest  and  intelligent  enquirer,  whether 
Clerk  or  Layman. 

I  have  here  confined  my  enquiries  chiefly  to  the  Penta- 
teuch and  Book  of  Joshua,  though,  in  so  doing,  I  have 
found  myself  compelled  to  take  more  or  less  into  considera- 
tion the  other  books  of  the  Old  Testament  also.  Should 
God  in  His  Providence  call  me  to  the  work,  I  shall  not 
shrink  from  the  duty  of  examining  on  behalf  of  others  into 
the  question,  in  what  way  the  interpretation  of  the  New 
Testament  is  affected  by  the  uuhistorical  character  of  the 


30  PREFACE. 

Pentateuch.  Of  course,  for  the  satisfaction  of  my  own 
mind,  and  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  to  those  more 
immediately  dependent  on  me,  I  cannot  avoid  doing  so,  if 
health  and  strength  are  granted  me,  as  soon  as  I  have 
completed  the  present  work,  and  ascertained  that  the 
ground  is  sure,  on  which  I  here  take  my  stand.  For  the 
present,  I  have  desired  to  follow  the  leading  of  the  Truth 
itself,  and  not  to  distract  my  attention,  or  incur  the  tempt- 
ation of  falsifying  the  conclusions,  to  which  the  argument 
would  honestly  lead  me,  by  taking  account  a  priori  of  the 
consequences ;  and  I  would  gladly  leave  to  other  hands  the 
work  of  conducting  the  above  enquiry  at  greater  length  for 
the  general  reader. 

On  one  point,  however,  it  may  be  well  to  make  here  a 
few  observations.  There  may  be  some,  who  will  say  that 
such  words  as  those  in  John  vi.  46,  47,  '  For  had  ye  believed 
Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  Me,  for  he  lorote  of  Me. 
But,  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how  shall  ye  believe  my 
words  ? ' — or  in  Luke  xx.  37,  '  Now,  that  the  dead  are  raised, 
even  3foses  shewed  at  the  bush,  [^'.  e.  in  the  passage  about 
the  '  bush,']  when  he  called  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob,' — or  in  Luke 
xvi.  29,  '  They  have  3Ioses  and  the  Prophets ;  let  them  hear 
them,'  and  v.  31,  ^  If  they  hear  not  Ifoses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose  from  the 
dead,' — are  at  once  decisive  upon  the  point  of  Moses'  au- 
thorship of  the  Pentateuch,  since  they  imply  that  our  Lord 
Himself  believed  in  it,  and,  consequently,  to  assert  that 
Moses  did  not  write  these  books,  would  be  to  contradict 
the  words  of  Christ,  and  to  impugn  His  veracity. 


PKEFACE.  31 

To  make  use  of  such  an  argument  is,  indeed,  to  bring 
the  Sacred  Ark  itself  into  the  battle-field,  and  to  make 
belief  in  Christianity  itself  depend  entirely  upon  the  ques- 
tion whether  Moses  wrote  the  Pentateuch,  or  not.  There 
is,  however,  no  force  in  this  particular  objection,  as  will 
appear  from  the  following  considerations. 

(i)  First,  such  words  as  the  above,  if  understood  in  their 
most  literal  sense,  can  only  be  supposed,  at  all  events,  to 
apply  to  certain  parts  of  the  Pentateuch ;  since  most  devout 
Christians  will  admit  that  the  last  chapter  of  Deuteronomy, 
which  records  the  death  of  Moses,  could  not  have  been 
written  by  his  hand,  and  the  most  orthodox  commentators 
are  obliged  also  to  concede  the  probability  of  some  other 
interpolations  having  been  made  in  the  original  story.  It 
would  become,  therefore,  even  thus,  a  question  for  a  rever- 
ent criticism  to  determine  what  passages  give  signs  of  not 
having  been  written  by  Moses. 

(ii)  But,  secondly,  and  more  generally,  it  may  be  said 
that,  in  making  use  of  such  expressions,  our  Lord  did  but 
accommodate  His  words  to  the  current  popular  language 
of  the  day,  as  when  He  speaks  of  God  '  making  His  sun  to 
rise,'  Matt.  v.  45,  or  of  the  '  stars  falling  from  heaven,' 
Matt.  xxiv.  29,  or  of  Lazarus  being  '  carried  by  the  angels 
into  Abraham's  bosom,'  Luke  xvi.  22,  or  of  the  woman 
'  with  a  spirit  of  infirmity,'  whom  '  Satan  had  bound  eigh- 
teen years,'  Luke  xiii.  16,  &c.,  without  our  being  at  all 
authorised  in  drawing  from  them  scientific  or  psychological 
conclusions. 

(iii)  Lastly,  it  is  jierfectly  consistent  with  the  most  en- 
tire and  sincere  behef  in  our  Lord's  Divmity,  to  hold,  as 


32  PREFACE. 

many  do,  that,  when  He  vouchsafed  to  become  a  '  Son  of 
Man,'  He  took  our  nature  fully,  and  voluntarily  entered 
into  all  the  conditions  of  humanity,  and  among  others,  into 
that  which  makes  our  growth  in  all  ordinary  knowledge 
gradual  and  limited.  We  are  expi-essly  told,  in  Luke  ii.  52, 
that  '  Jesus  increased  in  icisdom,''  as  well  as  in  'stature.'  It 
is  not  supposed  that,  in  His  human  nature.  He  was  ac- 
quainted, more  than  any  educated  Jew  of  the  age,  with  the 
mysteries  of  all  modern  sciences  ;  nor,  with  St.  Luke's  ex- 
pressions before  us,  can  it  be  seriously  maintained  that,  as 
an  infant  or  young  child,  He  possessed  a  knowledge,  sur- 
passing that  of  the  most  pious  and  learned  adults  of  His 
nation,  upon  the  subject  of  the  authorship  and  age  of  the 
different  portions  of  the  Pentateuch.  At  what  period, 
then,  of  His  life  upon  earth,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  He 
had  granted  to  Him,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  super  naturally, 
full  and  accurate  information  on  these  points,  so  that  He 
should  be  expected  to  speak  about  the  Pentateuch  in  other 
terms,  than  any  other  devout  Jew  of  that  day  would  have 
employed?  Why  should  it  be  thought  that  He  would 
speak  with  certain  Divine  knowledge  on  this  master,  more 
than  upon  other  matters  of  ordinary  science  or  history  ? 

While  confining,  however,  as  I  have  said,  my  present 
investigations  to  the  Pentateuch  and  Book  of  Joshua,  I 
have  spared  no  pains  to  make  them  as  complete  as  iiossible, 
with  the  means  at  my  disposal,  so  far  as  these  books  are 
concerned.  If  it  should  be  said  that  a  work  of  this  kind 
may  well  require  years  for  its  consideration,  before  it  can 
be  matured  and  fitted  for  publication,  I  answer  that,  situ- 


PKEFACE.  33 

ated  as  I  am,  I  have  had  no  alternative.  Being  invested 
with  the  episcopal  office,  I  cannot,  as  an  ordinary  clergyman 
might,  obtain  leave  of  absence  from  my  duties  for  a  year  or 
two,  and  have  them  carried  on  by  a  substitute.  Nor  can  I, 
arriving  in  England  as  a  Missionary  Bishop,  and  receiving, 
therefore,  calls  from  many  quarters  to  plead  the  cause  of 
Missions,  decline  acceding  to  such  calls,  without  assigning, 
as  I  do  by  the  publication  of  this  book,  the  reason  why, 
with  my  present  work  in  hand,  I  cannot  comply  with  them. 
The  question,  however,  has  been  to  me  a  matter  of  life  and 
death,  and  I  have  laboured  upon  it  incessantly,  with  all  the 
powers  which  God  has  given  me.  Yet  this  toil  has  been 
mainly  bestowed  upon  the  critical  and  subsidiary  portion 
of  my  book ;  and,  by  a  careful  comparison  of  my  own  con- 
clusions with  those  of  Bleek  and  Kuexex,  Avhich  contain 
the  latest  results  of  continental  criticism  in  Germany  and 
Holland,  I  believe  that  I  have  made  myself  sufficiently  mas- 
ter of  the  subject,  to  be  able  to  place  confidence  in  the 
general  soundness  of  the  views  that  will  be  here  main- 
tained, even  though  on  some  points,  as  will  be  seen,  I  feel 
obliged  to  differ  with  the  above  eminent  critics.  The 
essential  portions,  however,  of  this  work,  viz.  the  result 
arrived  at  in  Part  I,  required  comparatively  very  little 
labour.  The  facts  have  only  to  be  stated,  as  I  have  endeav- 
oured to  state  them,  in  a  form  intelligible  to  the  most  un- 
learned layman  ;  and  the  truth  of  the  conclusions  drawn 
will,  as  it  appears  to  me,  be  self-evident  to  most  of  my 
readers,  Avho  have  courage  to  face  the  truth,  and  courage 
to  confess  it. 


2* 


34  PREFACE. 

Finally,  I  am  not  aware  of  any  breach  of  the  Law  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  declared  by  the  recent  judgment  in 
the  Court  of  Arches,  which  is  involved  in  this  publication. 
It  is  now  ruled  that  the  words  in  the  Ordination  Service 
for  Deacons,  '  I  do  unfeignedly  believe  in  all  the  Canonical 
Scriptures,'  must  be  understood  to  mean  simply  the  expres- 
sion of  a  bond  fide  belief,  that '  the  Holy  Scriptures  contain 
everything  necessary  to  salvation,'  and  '  to  that  extent  they 
have  the  direct  sanction  of  the  Almighty.' 

I  am  not  conscious  of  having  said  anything  here,  which 
contravenes  this  decision.  Should  it  be  otherwise,  and 
should  the  strange  phenomenon  be  witnessed,  of  a  Bishop 
of  the  Protestant  Church  of  England, — more  especially 
one,  who  has  been  expressly  occupied  in  translating  the 
Scriptures  into  a  foreign  tongue, — being  precluded  by  the 
Law  of  that  Church  from  entering  uj)on  a  close,  critical, 
examination  of  them,  and  from  bringing  before  the  great 
body  of  the  Church,  (not  the  Clergy  only,  but  the  Clergy 
and  Laity,)  the  plain,  honest  results  of  such  criticism,  I 
must,  of  course,  bear  the  consequences  of  my  act. 

But,  meanwhile,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  our  Church, 
representing,  as  it  is  supposed  to  do,  the  religious  feeling 
of  a  free,  Protestant  nation,  requires  us  now,  as  in  the  days 
of  the  Reformation,  to  protest  against  all  perversion  of  the 
Truth,  and  all  suppression  of  it,  for  the  sake  of  Peace,  or  by 
mere  Authority.  As  a  Bishop  of  that  Church  I  dissent  en- 
tirely from  the  principle  laid  down  by  some,  that  such  a 
question,  as  that  which  is  here  discussed,  is  not  even  an 
open  question  for  an  English  clergyman, — that  we  are 
bound  by  solemn  obligations  to  maintain  certain  views,  on 


PKEFACE.  35 

the  points  here  involved,  to  our  lives'  end,  or,  at  least,  to 
resign  our  sacred  office  in  the  Church,  as  soon  as  ever  we 
feel  it  impossible  any  longer  to  hold  them. 

On  the  contrary,  I  hold  that  the  foundations  of  our 
National  Church  are  laid  upon  the  Truth  itself,  and  not  upon 
mere  human  prescriptions,  and  that  the  spirit  of  our  Church, 
as  declared  in  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  fully  recognises 
my  right  to  use  all  the  weight  of  that  office,  with  which  the 
Providence  of  God  has  invested  me,  in  declaring  the  Truth, 
and  recommending  the  subject  of  this  work  to  the  thought- 
ful consideration  of  English  Churchmen.  Nine  years  ago, 
I  was  deemed  not  unworthy  to  be  called  to  this  high  office. 
I  trust  that  the  labours  of  those  years  may  be  accepted  as 
an  evidence  that,  to  the  best  of  my  power,  I  have  striven 
to  discharge  faithfully  the  duties  entrusted  to  me,  and  may 
serve  also  as  a  guarantee,  that,  in  putting  forward  this 
book,  I  am  acting  in  no  light  spirit,  but  with  the  serious 
earnestness  of  one  who  believes  that  he  owes  it  as  a  duty  to 
the  Church  itself,  of  which  he  is  a  minister,  to  do  his  part  to 
secure  for  the  Bible  its  due  honour  and  authority,  and  save 
its  devout  readers  from  ascribing  to  it  attributes  of  j)erfec- 
tion  and  infallibility,  which  belong  to  God  only,  and  Avhich 
the  Bible  never  claims  for  itself  More  than  all  others,  I 
believe,  is  a  Bishop  bound  to  do  this,. if  his  conscience  impels 
him  to  it, — inasmuch  as  he,  above  others,  is  bound  to  be  an 
example  to  the  Flock  of  that  walking  in  the  Light,  without 
which  there  cannot  be  true  Life  in  a  Church,  any  more 
than  in  an  individual  soul, — '  renouncing  the  hidden  things 
of  dishonesty,  not  walking  in  craftiness  nor  handHng  the 
word  of  God  deceitfully,  but,  by  manifestation  of  the  Truth, 


36  PKEFACE. 

commending  himself  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight 
of  God.' 

If  the  arguments,  on  which  the  conchisions  of  these  first 
chapters  rest,  shall  be  found,  upon  a  thorough  examination, 
to  be  substantially  well-grounded  and  true,  I  trust  that  we 
shall  not  rest  until  the  system  of  our  Church  be  reformed, 
and  her  boundaries  at  the  same  time  enlarged,  to  make  her 
what  a  National  Church  should  be,  the  Mother  of  sj^iritual 
life  to  all  within  the  realm,  embracing,  as  far  as  possible,  all 
the  piety,  and  learning,  and  earnestness,  and  goodness  of 
the  nation.  Then,  at  last,  would  a  stop  be  put  to  that  in- 
ternecine war  between  the  servants  of  one  God  and  the 
professed  followers  of  the  same  religion,  which  now  is  a  re- 
proach to  our  Christian  name,  and  seriously  impedes  the 
progress  of  truth  and  charity,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
Should  the  reception  of  this  book,  by  the  more  thoughtful 
portion  of  the  community,  indicate  that  such  a  Reform  is 
possible  and  probable,  and  will  be  but  a  question  of  time, 
so  that,  being  able  meanwhile  to  si^eak  out  plainly  the  truth, 
we  shall  have  only  to  bear  with  the  inconveniences  and  in- 
consistencies, which  must  attend  a  state  of  transition,  it 
would  not  be  necessary  for  me,  or  for  those  who  think  with 
me,  to  leave  the  Church  of  England  voluntarily,  and  aban- 
don the  work  to  which  we  have  devoted  ourselves  for  life. 

In  conclusion,  I  commend  this  subject  more  especially 
to  the  attention  of  the  Laity.  They  are  happy  enough  to  be 
able  to  lay  aside  such  questions  as  these,  if  they  will,  while 
still  continuing  members  of  the  National  Church.  I  implore 
them  to  consider  the  position,  in  which  the  Clergy  will  be 
placed,  if  the  facts,  brought  forward  in  this  book,  are  found 


PKEFACE.  37 

to  be  substantially  true.  Let  them  examine  their  own  hearts 
solemnly,  in  the  sight  of  God,  on  these  points.  Would  they 
have  the  Clergy  bound,  under  jiains  and  penalties,  to  pi'o- 
fess  belief  in  that,  which  they  do  not  themselves  believe  in, 
to  which  they  would  not  on  any  account  commit  themselves  ? 
Are  they  willing  that  their  own  sons,  who  may  feel  the  Di- 
vine call  to  devote  themselves  to  the  ministry  of  souls, 
should  be  entangled  in  these  trammels,  so  galling  to  the 
conscience,  so  injurious  to  their  sense  of  truth  and  honesty, 
so  impeding  to  the  freedom  and  heartiness  of  their  minis- 
trations ?  We,  indeed,  who  are  already  under  the  yoke, 
may  have  for  a  time  to  bear  it,  however  painful  it  may  be, 
while  we  struggle  and  hope  on  for  deliverance.  But  what 
youth  of  noble  mind,  with  a  deep  yearning  for  truth,  and  an 
ardent  desire  to  tell  out  the  love  of  God  to  man,  will  con- 
sent to  put  himself  voluntarily  into  such  fetters  ?  It  may 
be  possible  to  represent  some  of  the  arguments  in  this  book 
as  invalid,  others  as  unimportant.  But,  if  the  main  result 
of  it  be  true,  as  I  believe  it  will  be  found  to  be,  it  seems  to 
me  impossible  that,  five  years  hence,  unless  liberty  of  speech 
on  these  matters  be  frankly  acknowledged  to  belong  to  the 
Clergy  as  well  as  the  Laity,  any  of  the  more  hopeful  and 
intelligent  of  our  young  men  will  bo  able,  with  clear  con- 
sciences, to  enter  the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  England. 

I  now  commit  this  First  Part  of  my  work  into  the  Hands 

of  Almighty  God,  beseeching  Him  mercifully  to  accept  and 

bless  it,  as  a  feeble  effort  to  advance  the  knowledge  of  His 

Truth  in  the  world. 

J.  W.  NATAL. 

London  :    Oct.  4,  1862. 


OOITTEI^TS. 


CHAP.  PAGB 

Preface S — 37 

I.  Introductory  Remarks 43 — 59 

II.  The  Family  of  Jddah 60 — 64 

III.  The  Explanations  of  Expositors  considered        .  65 — 15 

IV.  The  Size  of  the  Court  of  the  Tabernacle,  compared 

WITH  the  Number  of  the  Congregation       .         .       76 — 80 
V.  Moses  and  Joshua  addressing  all  Israel    .        .  81 — 84 

VI.  The  Extent  of  the  Camp,  compared  with  the  Priest's 

Duties,  and  the  daily  Necessities  of  the  People   85 — 88 
VII,  The  Number  of  the  People  at  the  first  Muster  com- 
pared WITH  the  Poll-tax  raised  six  Months  pre- 
viously   89—93 

VIII.  The  Israelites  dwelling  in  Tents         .         .        .  94 — 97 

IX.  The  Israelites  armed 98 — 104 

X.  The  Institution  of  the  Passover  .        .        .  105 — 112 

XI.  The  March  out  of  Egypt 113 — 117 

XII.  The  Sheep  and  Cattle  of  the  Israelites  in  the  Desert  118 — 137 
XIII.  The  Number  of  Israelites,  compared  with  the  Extent 

OF  THE  Land  of  Canaan 138 — 140 

XIV.  The  Number  of  the  First-borns,  compared  with  the 

Number  of  male  Adults 141 — 148 

XV.  The  Sojourning  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt        .  149 — 154 

XVI.  Exodus  in  the  fourth  Generation  ....  155 — 161 

XVII.  The  Number  of  Israelites  at  the  Time  of  the  Exodus  162 — 167 


40  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  PAGB  . 

XVIII.  The  Danites  AND  Levites  AT  THE  Time  OP  THE  Exodus  168 — IH 

XIX.  Replies  to  Kurtz,  Hengstenberg,  and  others  1*75 — 184 
XX.  The  Number  of  Priests  at  the  Exodus,  compared 
with  their  Duties,  and  with  the  Provision  made 

for  them 185 — 194 

XXI.  The  Priests  and  their  Duties  at  the  Celebration 

OF  the  Passoter 195 — 203 

XXII.  The  War  on  Midian 204—213 

XXXIII.  Concluding  Remarks 214—226 

Index  to  Scripture  Texts  in  Part  I.       •        .  227 — 229 


N.B. — The  quotations  from  Kurtz,  Hengstenberg,  and  Haternick, 
are  made  from  the  English  translations  in  Clarices  Theological  Library. 

In  a  double  quotation,  such  as  E.  viii.  3  (vii.  28)  or  D.  v.  20  (1*7),  the 
second  reference  is  to  the  Hebrew  Text,  which  in  such  a  case  will  be  found 
to  vary  from  the  English  Version. 


PART    I. 

THE    PENTATEUCH    EXAMHSTED    AS  AK 
HISTOKICAL  NARRATIVE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTEODUCTORY   KEMAKKS. 

1.  The  first  five  books  of  the  Bible, — commonly  called 
the  Pentateuch  (97  irevrdreuxo^  /S/ySXo?,  Pentatenchus, 
sc.  liber),  or  Book  of  Five  Volumes, — are  supposed  by 
most  English  readers  of  the  Bible  to  have  been  written 
by  Moses,  except  the  last  chapter  of  Deuteronomy, 
which  records  the  death  of  Moses,  and  which,  of  course, 
it  is  generally  allowed,  must  have  been  added  by  an- 
other hand,  perhaps  that  of  Joshua.  It  is  believed 
that  Moses  wrote  under  such  special  guidance  and 
teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  was  preserved  from 
making  any  error  in  recording  such  matters  as  came 
within  his  own  cognisance,  and  was  instructed  also  in 
respect  of  events  which  took  place  before  he  Vv^as  born, 
— before,  indeed,  there  was  a  human  being  on  the  earth 
to  take  note  of  what  was  passing.  He  was  in  this  way, 
it  is  supposed,  enabled  to  write  a  true  account  of  the 
Creation.  And,  though  the  accounts  of  the  Fall  and 
of  the  Flood,  as  well  as  of  later  events,  which  hap- 
pened in  the  time  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  may 
have  been  handed  down  by  tradition  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another,  and  even,  some  of  them,  perhaps,  writ- 
ten down  in  words,  or  represented  in  hieroglyphics, 


44:  ESITKODUCTORY    KEMAKKS. 

and  Moses  may,  probably,  liave  derived  assistance  from 
these  sources  also  in  the  comj)osition  of  liis  narrative, 
yet  in  all  his  statements,  it  is  believed,  he  was  nnder 
such  constant  control  and  superintendence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  that  he  was  kept  from  making  any  serious  error, 
and  certainly  from  writing  anything  altogether  untrue. 
We  may  rely  with  undoubting  confidence — such  is  the 
statement  usually  made — on  the  historical  veracity, 
and  infallible  accuracy,  of  the  Mosaic  narrative  in  all 
its  main  particulars.  Thus,  Archdeacon  Pkatt  writes, 
Science  and  Scripture  not  at  vainance,  p.  102  : — 

By  the  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture  I  understand,  tliat  the  Scriptures 
were  written  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  communicated  to 
the  writers  facts  before  unknown,  directed  them  in  the  selection  of  other 
facts  already  known,  and  preserved  them  from  error  of  every  kind  in  the 
records  they  made. 

2,  But,  among  the  many  results  of  that  remarkable 
activity  in  scientific  enquiry  of  every  kind,  "which,  by 
God's  own  gift,  distinguishes  the  present  age,  this  also 
must  be  reckoned,  that  attention  and  labour  are  no^v 
being  bestowed,  more  closely  and  earnestly  than  ever 
before,  to  search  into  the  real  foundations  for  such  a 
belief  as  this.  As  the  Rev.  A.  W.  IIaddan  has  well 
said,  {Replies  to  Essays  and  Remews^  p.  349,) — 

It  is  a  time  when  religious  questions  are  being  sifted  with  an  apparatus 
of  knowledge,  and  with  faculties  and  a  temper  of  mind,  seldom,  if  ever, 
before  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  The  entire  creation  of  new  departments 
of  knowledge,  such  as  philology, — the  discovery,  as  of  things  before  abso- 
lutely unknown,  of  the  physical  history  of  the  globe, — the  rising  from  the 
grave,  as  it  were,  of  whole  periods  of  history  contemporary  with  the  Bible, 
through  newly  found  or  newly  interpreted  monuments, — the  science  of 
manuscripts  and  of  settling  texts, — all  these,  and  many  more  that  might  be 
named,  embrace  in  themselves  a  whole  universe  of  knowledge  bearing 
upon  religion,  and  specially  upon  the  Bible,  to  which  our  fathers  were 
utter  strangers.     And  beyond  all  these  is  the  change  in  the  very  spirit  of 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  4:0 

thought  itself,  equally  great,  and  equally  appropriate  to  the  conditions  of 
the  present  conflict, — the  transi'ormation  of  history  by  the  critical  weighing 
of  evidence,  by  the  separation  from  it  of  the  subjective  and  the  mythical,  by 
the  treatment  of  it  in  a  living  and  real  way, — tlie  advance  in  Biblical 
Criticism,  which  has  undoubtedly  arisen  from  the  more  thorough  ajjpUca- 
tion  to  the  Bible  of  the  laws  of  human  criticism. 

3.  This  must,  in  fact,  be  deemed,  undoubtedly,  the 
question  of  tlie  present  day,  upon  the  reply  to  which 
depend  vast  and  momentous  interests.  The  time  is 
come,  as  I  believe,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  when  this 
question  can  no  longer  be  put  by, — when  it  must  be 
resolutely  faced,  and  the  whole  matter  fully  and  freely 
examined,  if  we  would  be  faithful  servants  of  the  God 
of  Truth.  Whatever  the  result  may  be,  it  is  our  boun- 
den  duty  to  '  buy  the  truth  '  at  any  cost,  even  at  the 
sacrifice,  if  need  be,  of  much,  which  we  have  hitherto 
held  to  be  most  dear  and  precious.  We  are  certain 
that  He,  who  has  given  us  our  reasoning  powers,  in- 
tends and  requires  us  to  use  them,  reverently  and  de- 
voutly, but  faithfully  and  diligently,  in  ITis  service. 
We  must  '  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  are  of  God  ' ; 
we  must  '  prove  all  things,  and  hold  ftist  that  which  is 
good.'  We  must  do  this  in  watchfulness  and  prayer,  as 
those  who  desire  only  to  know  the  Will  of  God  and  do 
it.  For,  as  Dr.  Davidson  has  truly  said,  Introchic.  to 
the  O.  T.  i.  151,— 

Piety,  humility,  and  prayer  are  much  needed  here,  by  the  side  of  acute- 
ness  and  learning. 

4.  For  myself,  I  liave  become  engaged  in  this  en- 
quiry, from  no  wish  or  purpose  of  my  own,  but  from 
the  plain  necessities  of  my  position  as  a  Missionary 
Bishop.  I  feel,  however,  that  I  am  only  drawn  in 
with  the  stream,  which  in  this  our  age  is  setting 
steadily  in  this  direction,  and  swelling  visibly  fi'om  day 


46  INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

to  day.  What  tlie  end  may  be,  God  only,  the  God  of 
Truth,  can  foresee.  Meanwhile,  believing  and  trusting 
in  His  guidance,  I  have  launched  my  bark  upon  the 
flood,  and  am  carried  along  by  the  waters.  Most 
gladly  would  I  have  turned  away  from  all  such  inves- 
tigations as  these,  if  I  could  have  done  so, — as,  in  fact, 
I  did,  until  I  could  do  so  no  longer.  It  is  true  that  my 
very  office  as  a  Clergyman,  and  much  more  as  a  Bishop, 
required  me  '  faithfully  to  exercise  myself  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures.'  But  the  study  of  the  practical  and  devo- 
tional parts  of  Scripture  for  a  long  time  occupied  me 
sufficiently,  to  satisfy  my  conscience  in  respect  of  this 
vow.  And  though,  of  course,  aware — as  every  think- 
ing person  must  be — of  some  serious  difficulties,  which 
present  themselves  in  reading  the  earlier  portions  of  the 
Bible,  I  have  been  content  to  rest  satisfied  that  the 
belief,  in  which  so  many  thousands  of  pious  and  able 
minds,  of  all  ages  and  countries,  have  acquiesced,  must 
be, — in  its  main  particulars,  at  least,' — correct. 

5.  There  was  a  time  indeed,  in  my  life,  before  my 
attention  had  been  drawn  to  the  facts,  which  make  such 
a  view  impossible  for  most  reflecting  and  enquiring 
minds,  when  I  could  have  heartily  assented  to  such 
language  as  the  following,  which  Buegon,  Inspiration 
and  Interpretation^  p.  89,  asserts  to  be  the  creed  of 
orthodox  believers,  and  which,  probably,  expresses  the 
belief  of  many  English  Christians  at  the  present  day  : — 

The  Bible  is  none  other  than  the  Voice  of  Him  that  sittcth  upon  the 
Tlirone  !  Every  book  of  it — every  chapter  of  it — every  verse  of  it — 
every  word  of  it — every  syllable  of  it — (where  are  we  to  stop  ?)  every  letter 
of  it — is  the  direct  utterance  of  the  Most  High  !  The  Bible  is  none  other 
than  the  Word  of  God — not  some  part  of  it  more,  some  part  of  it  less,  but 
all  alike,  the  utterance  of  Him  who  sitteth  upon  the  Throne — absolute — 
faultless — unerring — supreme. 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  4T 

Such  was  the  creed  of  the  School  in  which  I  was 
educated.  God  is  my  witness  !  what  hours  of  wetched- 
ness  have  I  spent  at  times,  while  reading  the  Bible  de- 
voutly from  day  to  day,  and  reverencing  every  word 
of  it  as  the  Word  of  God,  when  petty  contradictions  met 
me,  which  seemed  to  my  reason  to  conflict  with  the 
notion  of  the  absolute  historical  veracity  of  every  part 
of  Scripture,  and  which,  as  I  felt,  in  the  study  of  any 
other  hool',  we  should  honestly  treat  as  errors  or  mis- 
statements, without  in  the  least  detracting  from  the 
real  value  of  the  book  !  But,  in  those  days,  I  was 
taught  that  it  was  my  duty  to  fling  the  suggestion  from 
me  at  once,  '  as  if  it  were  a  loaded  shell,  shot  into  the 
fortress  of  my  soul,'  or  to  stamp  out  desperately,  as 
with  an  iron  heel,  each  spark  of  honest  doubt,  which 
God's  own  gift,  the  love  of  Truth,  had  kindled  in  my 
bosom.  And  by  many  a  painful  effort  I  succeeded  in 
doing  so  for  a  season  ;  though,  while  thus  dealing  with 
my  own  doubts,  I  never  certainly  presumed  to  think — 
with  one  who  '  thanks  God  '  that  '  the  cold  shade  of 
unbelief  has  never  for  an  instant  darkened  his  own 
spirit ' — that  each  '  solitary  doubter  was  paying  the  bit- 
ter penalty,  doubtless,  of  his  sin  (!),'  Burgon,  p.  ccix. 

6.  I  thank  God  that  I  was  not  able  long  to  throw 
dust  in  the  eyes  of  my  own  mind,  and  do  violence  to 
the  love  of  truth  in  this  way.  "With  increase  of  mental 
power  and  general  knowledge,  it  was,  I  felt,  impossible 
to  maintain  the  extreme  view  above  stated.  And, 
without  allowing  that  there  actually  were  any  real  con- 
tradictions,— without,  in  fact,  caring  to  examine  too 
closely  and  curiously  into  the  question, — yet,  when 
feeling  the  pressure  of  such  difiiculties,  I  have  taken 
refuge,  as  I  imagine  very  many  educated  persons  do  in 


4:8  INTKODUCTOKY    KEMAliKS, 

the  present  day,  in  some  such  thoughts  as  those  which 
Prof.  Harold  Beowne  recommends  as  a  stay  and  sup- 
port to  the  mind  under  such  perplexities,  Aids  to 
Faith,  p.  31Y,  318,— 

If  we  believe  that  God  has  in  different  ages  authorized  certain  persons 
to  communicate  objective  truth  to  mankind, — if,  in  the  Old  Testament  his- 
tory and  the  books  of  tlie  Prophets,  we  find  manifest  indications  of  the 
Creator, — it  is  then  a  secondary  consideration,  and  a  question  in  which  we 
may  safely  agree  to  differ,  whether  or  not  every  book  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  written  so  completely  under  the  dictation  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  that 
every  word,  not  only  doctrinal,  but  also  Idstorical  or  scientific,  must  be  in- 
fallibly correct  and  true.  .  .  Whatever  conclusion  may  be  arrived  at, 
as  to  the  infallibility  of  the  writers  on  matters  of  science  or  of  histori/, 
still  the  whole  collection  of  the  books  will  be  really  the  oracles  of  God,  the 
Scriptures  of  God,  the  record  and  depositary  of  God's  supernatural  revela- 
tions in  early  times  to  men.  .  .  .  With  all  the  pains  and  ingenuity, 
which  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  subject,  no  charge  of  error,  even  in 
matters  of  human  knowledge,  has  ever  yet  been  substantiated  against  any 
of  the  writers  of  Scripture.  But,  even  if  it  had  been  otherwise,  is  it  not 
conceivable  that  there  might  have  been  infallible  Divine  teaching  in  all 
things  spiritual  and  heavenly,  whilst,  on  mere  matters  of  history  or  oi  daily 
life,  Prophets  and  Evangelists  might  have  been  suffered  to  write  as  men? 
Even  if  this  were  true,  we  need  not  be  perplexed  or  disquieted,  so  we  can 
be  agreed  that  the  divine  element  was  ever  such  as  to  secure  the  infallible 
truth  of  Scripture  in  all  things  divine. 

7.  But  my  labours,  as  a  translator  of  the  Bible,  and 
a  teacher  of  intelligent  catechumens,  have  brought  me 
face  to  face  with  questions,  from  which  I  had  hitherto 
shrunk,  but  from  which,  under  the  circumstances,  I  felt 
it  would  be  a  sinful  abandonment  of  duty  any  longer  to 
turn  away.  I  have,  therefore,  as  in  the  sight  of  God 
Most  High,  set  myself  deliberately  to  find  the  answer 
to  such  questions,  witli,  I  trust  and  believe,  a  sincere 
desire  to  know  the  Truth,  as  God  wills  us  to  know  it, 
and  with  a  humble  dependence  on  that  Divine  Teacher, 
who  alone  can  guide  us  into  that  knowledge,  and  help 


INTKODUCTORY   EEMAKKSJ  '  49 

ns  to  use  the  light  of  our  minds  aright.  The  result  of 
my  enquiry  is  this,  that  I  have  arrived  at  the  convic- 
tion,— as  painful  to  myself  at  first,  as  it  may  be  to  my 
reader,  though  painfid  now  no  longer  under  the  clear 
shining  of  the  Light  of  Truth, — that  the  Pentateuch,  as 
a  whole,  cannot  possibly  have  been  written  by  Moses, 
or  by  any  one  acquainted  personally  with  the  facts 
which  it  professes  to  describe,  and,  further,  that  the 
(so-called)  Mosaic  narrative,  by  whomsoever  written, 
and  though  imparting  to  us,  as  I  fully  believe  it  does, 
revelations  of  the  Divine  Will  and  Character,  cannot 
be  regarded  as  historically  true. 

8.  Let  it  be  observed  that  I  am  not  here  speaking 
of  a  number  of  petty  variations  and  contradictions,  such 
as,  on  closer  examination,  are  found  to  exist  throughout 
the  books,  but  which  may  be  in  many  cases  sufficiently 
explained,  by  alleging  our  ignorance  of  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  or  by  supposing  some  misplacement, 
or  loss,  or  corruption,  of  the  original  manuscript,  or  by 
suggestuig  that  a  later  writer  has  inserted  his  own  gloss 
here  and  there,  or  even  whole  passages,  which  may 
contain  facts  or  expressions  at  variance  with  the  true 
Mosaic  Books,  and  throwing  an  unmerited  suspicion 
upon  them.  However  perplexing  such  contradictions 
are,  when  found  in  a  book  which  is  believed  to  be  di- 
vinely infallible,  yet  a  humble  and  pious  faith  will 
gladly  welcome  the  aid  of  a  friendly  criticism,  to  re- 
lieve it  in  this  way  of  its  doubts,  I  can  truly  say  that 
I  would  do  so  heartily  myself.  Nor  are  the  difficulties, 
to  which  I  am  now  referring,  of  the  same  kind  as 
those,  which  arise  from  considering  the  accounts  of  the 
Creation  and  the  Deluge,  (though  these  of  themselves 
are  very  formidable,)  or  the  stupendous  character  of 
3 


50  INTKODUCTOKY   REMAEKS. 

certain  miracles,  as  that  of  the  sun  and  moon  standing 
still, — or  the  waters  of  the  river  Jordan  standing  in 
heaps  as  solid  walls,  while  the  stream,  we  must  sup- 
pose, was  still  running, — or  the  ass  speaking  with  hu- 
man voice, — or  the  miracles  wrought  by  the  magicians 
of  Egypt,  such  as  the  conversion  of  a  rod  into  a  snake, 
and  the  latter  being  endowed  with  life.  They  are  not 
such,  even,  as  are  raised,  when  we  regard  the  trivial 
nature  of  a  vast  number  of  conversations  and  com- 
mands, ascribed  directly  to  Jehovah,  especially  the 
multiplied  ceremonial  minutias,  laid  down  in  tjie  Leviti- 
cal  Law.  They  are  not  such,  even,  as  must  be  started 
at  once  in  most  pious  minds,  when  such  words  as  these 
are  read,  professedly  coming  from  the  Holy  and  Blessed 
One,  the  Father  and  '  Faithful  Creator '  of  all  man- 
kind : — 

'  If  the  master  (of  a  Hebrew  servant)  have  given 
him  a  wife,  and  she  have  borne  him  sons  or  daughters, 
the  wife  and  her  children  shall  he  her  master''s^  and  he 
shall  go  out  free  by  himself,'  E.  xxi.  4  : 

the  wife  and  children  in  such  a  case  being  placed 
under  the  protection  of  such  other  words  as  these, — 

'  If  a  man  smite  his  servant,  or  his  maid,  with  a 
rod,  and  he  die  under  his  hand,  he  shall  be  surely  pun- 
ished. Notwithstanding,  if  he  continue  a  day  or  two, 
he  shall  not  be  punished  :  for  he  is  his  money.''  E.  xxi. 
20,  21. 

9.  I  shall  never  forget  the  revulsion  of  feeling,  with 
which  a  very  intelligent  Christian  native,  with  whose 
help  I  was  translating  these  words  into  the  Zulu  tongue, 
first  heard  them  as  words  said  to  be  uttered  by  the 
same  great  and  gracious  Being,  whom  I  was  teaching 
him  to  trust  in  and  adore.     His  whole  soul  revolted 


INTEODUCTOET   KEMAEKS.  51 

against  the  notion,  that  the  Great  and  Blessed  God,  the 
Merciful  Father  of  all  mankind,  would  speak  of  a  ser- 
vant or  maid  as  mere  '  money,'  and  allow  a  horrible 
crime  to  go  unpunished,  because  the  victim  of  the  bini- 
tal  usage  had  survived  a  few  hours.  My  own  heart 
and  conscience  at  the  time  fully  sympathised  with  his. 
But  I  then  clung  to  the  notion,  that  the  main  substance 
of  the  narrative  was  historically  true.  And  I  relieved 
his  difficulty  and  my  own  for  the  present  by  telling 
him,  that  I  sujDposed  that  such  words  as  these  were 
written  down  by  Moses,  and  believed  by  him  to  have 
been  divinely  given  to  him,  because  the  thought  of 
them  arose  in  his  heart,  as  he  conceived,  by  the  inspi- 
ration of  God,  and  that  hence  to  all  such  Laws  he  pre- 
fixed the  formula,  '  Jehovah  said  unto  Moses,'  without 
it  being  on  that  account  necessary  for  ns  to  suppose 
that  they  were  actually  spoken  by  the  Almighty.  This 
was,  however,  a  very  great  strain  upon  the  cord,  which 
bound  me  to  the  ordinary  belief  in  the  historical  ve- 
racity of  the  Pentateuch  ;  and  since  then  that  cord  has 
snapped  in  twain  altogether. 

10.  But  I  wish  to  repeat  here  most  distinctly,  that 
my  reason  for  no  longer  receiving  the  Pentateuch  as 
historically  true,  is  not  that  I  fiud  insuperable  difficul- 
ties with  regard  to  the  miracles,  or  supernatural  revela- 
tions of  Almighty  God,  recorded  in  it,  but  solely  that 
I  cannot,  as  a  true  man,  consent  any  longer  to  shut  my 
eyes  to  the  absolute,  palpable  self-contradictions  of  the 
narrative.  The  notion  of  miraculous  or  supernatural 
interferences  does  not  present  to  my  own  mind  the  diffi- 
culties which  it  seems  to  present  to  some.  I  could  be- 
lieve and  receive  the  miracles  of  Scripture  heartily,  if 
only  they  were  authenticated  by  a  veracious  history ; 


52  INTRODUCTOKY   KEMAKKS. 

though,  if  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  Pentateuch,  any 
miracles,  which  rest  on  such  an  unstable  support,  must 
necessarily  fall  to  the  ground  with  it.  The  language, 
therefore,  of  Prof.  Mansel,  Aids  to  Faith,  p.  9,  is 
wholly  inapplicable  to  the  present  ease  : — 

The  real  question  at  issue,  between  the  believer  and  the  unbeliever  in 
the  Scripture  miracles,  is  not  whether  they  are  established  by  sufficient 
testimony,  but  whether  they  can  be  established  by  any  testimony  at  all. 

And  I  must  equally  demur  to  that  of  Prof.  Beowne, 
Aids  to  Faith,  p.  296,  who,  in  his  Essay,  admirable  as 
it  is  for  its  general  candour  and  fairness,  yet  implies 
that  doubts  of  the  Divine  Authority  of  any  portion  of 
the  Scrijitures  must,  in  all  or  most  cases,  arise  from 
'  unbelieving  opinions,'  while  '  criticism  comes  after- 
wards.' Of  course,  a  thorough  searching  criticism 
must^  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  '  come  afterwards.' 
But  the  '  unbelieving  op)inions'  in  my  own  case,  and,  I 
doubt  not,  in  the  case  of  many  others,  have  been  the 
necessary  consequence  of  my  having  been  led,  in  the 
plain  course  of  my  duty,  to  shake  off  the  incubus  of  a 
dogmatic  education,  and  steadily  look  one  or  two  facts 
in  the  face.  In  my  case,  critical  enquiry  to  some  ex- 
tent has  preceded  the  formation  of  these  opinions  ;  but 
the  one  has  continually  reacted  on  the  other. 

11.  For  the  conviction  of  the  unhistorical  character 
of  the  (so-called)  Mosaic  narrative  seems  to  be  forced 
upon  us,  by  the  consideration  of  the  many  absolute 
impossihilities  involved  in  it,  when  treated  as  relating 
simple  matters  of  fact,  and  without  taking  account  of 
any  argument,'  which  throws  discredit  on  the  story 
merely  by  reason  of  the  miracles,  or  supernatural  ap- 
pearances, recorded  in  it,  or  particular  laws,  speeches, 
and  actions,  ascribed  in  it  to  the  Divine  Being.     We 


INTEODUCTOKY   KEMAKKS.  53 

need  onlj  consider  well  the  statements  made  in  the 
books  themselves,  by  whomsoever  wiitten,  about  mat- 
ters which  they  profess  to  narrate  as  facts  of  common 
history, — statements,  which  every  Clergyman,  at  all 
events,  and  every  Sunday-School  Teacher,  not  to  say, 
every  Christian,  is  surely  bound  to  examine  thoroughly, 
and  try  to  understand  rightly,  comparing  one  passage 
with  another,  until  he  comprehends  their  actual  mean- 
ing, and  is  able  to  explain  that  meaning  to  others.  If 
we  do  this,  we  shall  find  them  to  contain  a  series  of 
manifest  contradictions  and  inconsistencies,  which  leave 
us,  it  would  seem,  no  alternative  but  to  conclude  that 
main  portions  of  the  story  of  the  Exodus,  though  based, 
probably,  on  some  real  historical  foundation,  yet  are 
certainly  not  to  be  regarded  as  historically  true. 

12.  The  proofs,  which  seem  to  me  to  be  conclusive 
on  this  point,  I  feel  it  to  be  my  duty,  in  the  service  of 
God  and  the  Truth,  to  lay  before  my  fellow-men,  not 
without  a  solemn  sense  of  the  responsibility  which  I 
am  thus  incurring,  and  not  without  a  painful  forebod- 
ing of  the  serious  consequences  which,  in  many  cases, 
ma}''  ensue  from  such  a  publication.  There  will  be 
some  now,  as  in  the  time  of  the  first  preaching  of 
Christianity,  or  in  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  who 
will  seek  to  turn  their  liberty  into  a  '  cloke  of  lascivi- 
ousness.'  '  The  unrighteous  will  be  unrighteous  still ; 
the  filthy  will  be  filthy  still.'  The  heart,  that  is  un- 
clean and  impure,  will  not  fail  to  find  excuse  for  in- 
dulging its  lusts,  from  the  notion  that  somehow  the 
very  principle  of  a  living  faith  in  God  is  shaken,  be- 
cause belief  in  the  Pentateuch  is  shaken.  But  it  is  not 
so.  Our  belief  in  the  Living  God  remains  as  sure  as 
ever,  though  not  the  Pentateuch  only,  but  the  whole 


54  INTEODUCTOKY    REMAKES. 

Bible,  were  removed.  It  is  written  on  our  hearts  bj 
God's  own  Finger,  as  surely  as  by  tlie  band  of  the 
Apostle  in  the  Bible,  that  '  GOD  IS,  and  is  a  rewarder 
of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him.'  It  is  written  there 
also,  as  plainly  as  in  the  Bible,  that  '  God  is  not 
mocked,' — that  '  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall 
he  also  reap,' — and  that  '  he  that  soweth  to  the  flesh, 
shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption.' 

13.  But  there  will  be  others  of  a  difi'erent  stamp, — 
meek,  lowly,  loving  souls,  who  are  walking  daily  with 
God,  and  have  been  taught  to  consider  a  belief  in  the 
historical  veracity  of  the  story  of  the  Exodus  an  essen- 
tial part  of  their  religion,  upon  which,  indeed,  as  it 
seems  to  them,  the  whole  fabric  of  their  faith  and  hoj^e 
in  God  is  based.  It  is  not  really  so  :  the  Light  of  God's 
Love  did  not  shine  less  truly  on  pious  minds,  when 
Enoch  '  walked  with  God '  of  old,  though  there  was 
then  no  Bible  in  existence,  than  it  does  now.  And  it 
is,  perhaps,  God's  Will  that  we  shall  be  taught  in  this 
our  day,  among  other  precious  lessons,  not  to  build  up 
our  faith  upon  a  Book,  though  it  be  the  Bible  itself, 
but  to  realize  more  truly  the  blessedness  of  knowing 
that  He  Himself,  the  Living  God,  our  Father  and 
Friend,  is  nearer  and  closer  to  us  than  any  book  can 
be, — that  His  Voice  within  the  heart  may  be  heard 
continually  by  the  obedient  child  that  listens  for  it, 
and  that  shall  be  our  Teacher  and  Guide,  in  the  path 
of  duty,  which  is  the  path  of  life,  when  all  other  help- 
ers— even  the  words  of  the  Best  of  Books — may  fail 
us. 

14.  In  discharging,  however,  my  present  duty  to 
God  and  to  the  Church,  I  trust  that  I  shall  be  pre- 
served from  saying  a  single  word  that  may  cause  un- 


INTKODUCTOKY   EEMAEKS.  55 

necessary  pain  to  those  who  now  embrace  with  all  their 
hearts,  as  a  jjrimary  article  of  Faith,  the  ordinary  view 
of  Scripture  Inspiration.  Pain.,  I  know,  I  must  cause 
to  some.  But  I  feel  very  deeply  that  it  behoves  every 
one,  who  would  write  on  such  a  subject  as  this,  to  re- 
member how  closely  the  belief  in  the  historical  truth 
of  every  portion  of  the  Bible  is  interwoven,  at  the 
present  time,  in  England,  with  the  faith  of  many, 
whose  piety  and  charity  may  far  surpass  his  own.  He 
must  beware  lest,  even  by  rudeness  or  carelessness  of 
speech,  he  '  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  ; '  while  yet 
he  may  feel  it  to  be  his  duty,  as  I  do  now,  to  tell  out 
plainly  the  truth,  as  God,  he  believes,  has  enabled  him 
to  see  it.  And  that  truth  in  the  present  instance,  as  I 
have  said,  is  this,  that  the  Pentateuch,  as  a  whole,  was 
not  written  by  Moses,  and  that,  with  respect  to  some, 
at  least,  of  the  chief  portions  of  the  story,  it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  historically  true.  It  does  not,  therefore, 
cease  to  '  contain  the  true  Word  of  God,'  with  '  all 
things  necessary  for  salvation,'  to  be  '  profitable  for 
doctrine,  reproof,  correction,  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness.' It  still  remains  an  integral  portion  of  that  Book, 
which,  whatever  intermixture  it  may  show  of  human 
elements, — of  error,  infirmity,  passion,  and  ignorance, — 
has  yet,  through  God's  Providence,  and  the  special 
working  of  His  Spirit,  on  the  minds  of  its  writers, 
been  the  means  of  revealing  to  us  His  True  Name,  the 
Name  of  the  only  Living  and  True  God,  and  has  all 
along  been,  and,  as  far  as  we  know,  will  never  cease  to 
be,  the  mightiest  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  Divine 
Teacher,  for  awakening  in  our  minds  just  conceptions 
of  His  Character,  and  of  His  gracious  and  merciful 
dealings  with  the  children  of  men.     Only  we  must  not 


56  INTKODUCTOEY   EEMAKKS. 

attempt  to  put  into  tlie  Bible  what  we  think  ought  to 
be  there  :  we  must  not  indulge  that  '  forward  delusive 
faculty,'  as  Bishop  Butler  styles  the  '  imagination,' 
and  lay  it  down  for  certain  beforehand  that  God  could 
only  reveal  Himself  to  us  by  means  of  an  infallible 
Book.  We  must  be  content  to  take  the  Bible  as  it  is, 
and  draw  from  it  those  Lessons  which  it  really  con- 
tains. Accordingly,  that  which  I  have  done,  or  en- 
deavored to  do,  in  this  book,  is  to  make  out  from  the 
Bible — at  least  from  the  first  part  of  it — what  account 
it  gives  of  itself;  what  it  really  is ;  what,  if  we  love  the 
truth,  we  must  understand  and  believe  it  to  be  ;  what, 
if  we  will  speak  the  truth,  we  must  represent  it  to  be. 

15.  I  shall  omit  for  the  present  a  number  of  plain, 
but  less  obvious,  indications  of  the  main  point  which 
I  have  asserted  ;  because  it  may  be  possible,  in  some, 
at  least,  of  such  cases,  to  explain  the  meaning  of  the 
Scripture  words  in  some  way,  so  as  to  make  them  agree 
with  known  facts,  or  wdth  statements  seemingly  contra- 
dictory, which  are  made  elsewhere.  My  object  will 
first  be  to  satisfy  the  reader's  mind  as  soon  as  possible 
that  the  case  is  certainly  as  I  have  stated  it,  that  so  he 
may  go  on  with  the  less  hesitation,  and  pursue  with 
me  the  much  more  difficult  enquiry  into  the  real  origin 
and  meaning  of  these  books.  I  shall  endeavour  to  re- 
lieve him  at  once,  in  the  very  outset  of  our  investiga- 
tions, from  that  painful  sense  of  fear  and  misgiving, 
which  now,  I  imagine,  deters  so  many,  as  it  has  so  long 
deterred  me,  from  looking  resolutely  and  deliberately 
into  the  matter,  and  applying  to  these  books  the  same 
honest,  though  respectful,  criticism,  which  they  would 
apply  to  other  writings,  however  highly  esteemed.  So 
long  as  the  spirit  is  oppressed  with  this  sense  of  dread, 


INTKODUCTORY    KEMAKKS.  5Y 

it  is  impossible  to  come  to  the  consideration  of  the 
matter  before  us  with  the  cahnness,  and  composure  of 
mind,  which  the  case  requires.  In  this  way,  also,  we 
shall  best  be  able  to  disentangle  the  subject  from  the 
mass  of  sophistical  arguments,  which,  as  will  appear 
abundantly  in  the  course  of  this  work,  have  been  ad- 
duced by  various  writers  in  support  of  the  ordinary 
view,  and  which  will  never  cease  to  be  adduced  by 
well-meaning  writers,  and  be  eagerly  acquiesced  in  by 
pious  minds,  so  long  as  it  is  assumed  a  iwiori^  as  an 
Article  of  Faith,  that  the  Pentateuch,  as  God's  Word, 
is,  therefore,  also  as  an  historical  record,  in  all  its  parts, 
infallibly  true,  and  that,  consequently,  some  account 
must  be  given,  however  far-fetched  and  unsatisfactory, 
of  the  strange  jjhenomena,  which  it  presents  to  a 
thoughtful  and  enquiring  reader. 

16.  It  may  not  be  easy,  nor  even  possible,  to  deter- 
mine with  absolute  certainty,  when,  and  by  whom,  and 
under  what  peculiar  circumstances,  the  different  por- 
tions of  the  Pentateuch  were  written ;  though  I  shall 
hope  to  show,  as  we  proceed,  that  much  light  may  be 
thrown  upon  this  point.  But,  in  order  to  elucidate  it 
more  fully,  we  need  the  co-operation  of  many  minds  of 
difi'erent  quality,  who  shall  engage  themselves  vigor- 
ously in  the  enquiry,  with  the  ditferent  talents  which 
God  has  vouchsafed  to  them,  and  with  the  help  of  all 
the  aids  of  modern  science.  At  present  there  are  but 
few,  comparatively, — in  England,  at  all  events, — who 
have  devoted  themselves  in  a  pious  and  reverent  spirit 
to  these  studies.  The  number,  indeed,  of  such  students, 
is  increasing,  and  will,  I  am  sure,  increase  daily.  But 
still  there  are  not  a  few,  avIio  are  unwilling  to  disturb, 
it  may  be,  the  repose  of  their  souls,  by  examining  into 
3* 


58  INTEODUCTORY   KEMAKKS. 

the  fundamental  truth  of  matters,  which  are  believed, 
or,  at  least,  acquiesced  in,  by  the  great  mass  of  Chris- 
tendom. And  there  are  others,  who  dread  lest,  in 
making  such  enquiries,  they  shall,  perhaps,  be  going 
'  beyond  w^liat  is  written,'  and  who  shrink,  as  from  an 
act  of  sacrilege,  from  the  very  thought  of  submitting, 
what  they  deem  to  be,  in  the  most  literal  sense,  the 
very  Word  of  God,  to  human  criticism. 

17.  Nevertheless,  I  believe,  as  I  have  said,  that  the 
time  is  come,  in  the  ordering  of  God's  Providence  and 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  when  such  a  work  as  this 
must  be  taken  in  hand,  not  in  a  light  and  scoffing  spirit, 
but  in  that  of  a  devout  and  living  faith,  which  seeks 
only  Truth,  and  follows  fearlessly  its  footsteps, — when 
such  questions  as  these  must  be  asked, — be  asked  rev- 
erently, as  by  those  who  feel  that  they  are  treading  on 
holy  ground, — but  be  asked  firmly,  as  by  those  who 
would  be  able  to  give  an  account  of  the  hope  which  is 
in  them,  and  to  know  that  the  grounds  are  sure,  on 
which  they  rest  their  trust  for  time  and  for  eternity. 
The  spirit,  indeed,  in  which  such  a  work  should  be  car- 
ried on,  cannot  be  better  described  than  in  the  words 
of  BuKGON,  who  says,  'p.  cxli : — 

Approach  the  volume  of  Holy  Scripture  with  the  same  candour,  and  in 
the  same  unprejudiced  spirit,  with  which  you  would  approach  any  other 
famous  book  of  high  antiquity.  Study  it  with,  at  least,  the  same  attention.' 
Give,  at  least,  equal  heed  to  all  its  statements.  Acquaint  yourself  at  least 
as  industriously  with  its  method  and  principle,  employing  and  applying 
either  with  at  least  equal  fidelity  in  its  interpretation.  Above  all,  heioare 
of  plaijing  tricks  ivith  its  plain  language.  Beware  of  suppressing  any 
part  of  the  evidence  which  it  supplies  to  its  own  meaning.  Be  truthful, 
and  unprejudiced,  and  honest,  and  consistent,  and  logical,  and  exact 
throughout,  in  your  work  of  interpretation. 

And  again  he  writes,  commending  a  closer  attention 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  5!) 

to  Biblical  studies  to  the  younger  members  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  ]).  12, — 

I  contemplate  the  continued  exercise  of  a  most  curious  and  prying,  as 
well  as  a  most  vigilant  and  observing,  eye.  No  difficulty  is  to  be  nogk  cted ; 
110  peculiarity  of  expression  is  to  be  disregarded ;  no  minute  detail  is  to  be 
overlooked.  The  hint,  let  fall  inau  earlier  chapter,  is  to  be  compared  with 
a  hint  let  fall  in  the  later  place.  Do  they  tally  or  not?  And  what  fol- 
lows ? 

Bishop  Butler  also  truly  observes,  Analogy  of  Re- 
ligion^ Part  II,  chap,  viii,  i.  1, — 

The  Scripture  history  in  general  is  to  be  admitted  as  an  authentic  genu- 
ine history,  till  somewhat  positive  be  alleged  sufficient  to  invalidate  it. 

But  he  adds — 

General  incredibility  in  the  things  related,  or  inconsistence  in  the 
general  turn  of  the  history,  would  prove  it  to  be  of  no  authority. 


CHAPTER  n. 


THE   FAMILY   OF   JUDAH. 


18.  I  SHALL  now  proceed  to  show,  by  means  of  a 
number  of  prominent  instances,  that  tlie  books  of  the 
Pentateuch  contain,  in  their  own  account  of  the  story 
which  they  profess  to  relate,  such  remarkable  contra- 
dictions, and  involve  such  plain  impossibilities,  that 
they  cannot  be  regarded  as  true  narratives  of  actual, 
historical,  matters  of  fact.  "Without  stojDping  here  to 
speak  of  the  many  difficulties,  wdiich  (as  will  appear 
hereafter)  exist  in  the  earlier  parts  of  the  history,  I 
shall  go  on  at  once  to  consider  the  account  of  the  Exo- 
dus itself,  beginning  with  the  very  first  step  of  it,  the 
descent  into  Egypt. 

19.  And  the  sons  of  Judah,  Ei\  and  Onan^  and 
Shelah,  and  Pharez,  and  Zarah  /  hut  Er  and  Onan 
died  in  the  land  of  Canaan  /  and  the  sons  of  Pharez, 
were  Hezron  and  Hamul.     G.  xlvi.  12. 

It  appears  to  me  to  be  certain  that  the  writer  here 
means  to  say  that  Hezron  and  Hamul  were  'born  in.  the 
land  of  Canaan^  and  were  among  tlie  seventy  persons, 
(including  Jacob  himself,  and  Joseph,  and  his  two 
sons,)  who  came  into  Egypt  with  Jacob. 

He  repeats  the  words  again  and  again  : — 


THE   FAMILY    OF   JUDAH.  61 

'  These  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which 
came  into  Egijpt^  v.  8  ; 

'  All  the  souls,  that  came  ic'ith  Jacob  into  Egypt^ 
which  came  out  of  his  loins,  besides  Jacob's  sons' 
wives,  were  threescore  and  six,'  v.  26, — which  they 
would  not  be  without  Ilezron  and  Hamul ; 

'  And  the  sons  of  Joseph,  which  were  born  him  in 
Egypt,  were  two  souls  :  all  the  souls  of  the  house  of 
Jacob,  which  ca'^ne  into  Egypt,  were  threescore  and 
ten.'  V.  27. 

So  again  we  read, — 

'  These  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which 
came  into  Egypt ;  every  man  and  his  household  came 
with  Jacoh.  And  all  the  souls,  that  came  out  of  the 
loins  of  Jacob,  were  seventy  souls ;  for  Joseph  was  in 
Egypt  already.'     E.  i.  1,  5. 

'  Thy  fathers  went  down  into  Egypt  with  tlirecscore 
and  ten  persons  ;  and  now  the  Lord  thy  God  hath 
made  thee  as  the  stars  of  heaven  for  multitude.'  D. 
X.  22. 

I  assume,  then,  that  it  is  absolutely  undeniable  that 
the  narrative  of  the  Exodus  distinctly  involves  the 
statement,  that  the  sixty-six  persons,  '  out  of  the  loins 
of  Jacob,'  mentioned  in  G.  xlvi,  and  no  others,  went 
down  with  him  into  Egypt, 

20.  Now  Judali  was  forty-two  *  years  old,  accord- 

*  Joseph  was  thirty  years  old,  when  he  '  stood  before  Pharaoh,'  as 
governor  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  G.  xli.  46  ;  and  from  that  time  nine  years 
elapsed,  (seven  of  plenty  and  two  of  famine,)  before  Jacob  came  down  to 
Egypt.  At  that  time,  therefore,  Joseph  was  thirty-nine  years  old.  But 
Judah  was  about  three  years  older  than  Joseph ;  for  Judah  was  born  in  the 
fourth  year  of  Jacob's  double  marriage,  G.  -Kxix.  35,  and  Joseph  in  the 
seventh^  G.  xxx.  24-26,  xxxi.  41.  Hence  Judah  was  forty-two  years  old 
when  Jacob  went  down  to  Egypt. 


62  THE   FAMILY   OF   JUDAH. 

ing  to  the  story,  when  he  went  down  with  Jacob  into 

Egypt.   ^^ 

But,  if  we  turn  to  G.  xxxviii,  we  shall  find  that,  in 
the  course  of  tiiese  forty-two  years  of  Judah's  life,  the 
following  events  are  recorded  to  have  happened. 

(i)  Judali  grows  up,  marries  a  wife — '  at  that  time,' 
V.  1,  that  is,  after  Joseph's  being  sold  into  Egypt,  when 
he  was  '  seventeen  years  old,'  G.  xxxvii.  2,  and  when 
Judah,  consequently,  was  twenty  years  old, — and  has, 
separately,  three  sons  by  her. 

(ii)  The  eldest  of  these  three  sons  grows  up,  is  mar- 
ried, and  dies. 

The  second  grows  to  maturity,  (suppose  in  another 
year,)  marries  his  brother's  widow,  and  dies. 

The  third  grows  to  maturity,  (suppose  in  another 
year  still,)  but  declines  to  take  his  brother's  widow  to 
wife. 

She  then  deceives  Judah  himself,  conceives  by  him, 
and  in  due  time  bears  him  twins,  Pharez  and  Zarah. 

(iii)  One  of  these  twins  also  grows  to  maturity,  and 
has  two  sons,  Hezron  and  TIamul,  born  to  him,  before 
Jacob  goes  down  into  Egpyt. 

The  above  being  certainly  incredible,  we  are  obliged 
to  conclude  that  one  of  the  two  accounts  must  be  un- 
true. Yet  the  statement,  that  Hezron  and  Hamul  were 
born  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  is  vouched  so  positively  by 
the  many  passages  above  quoted,  which  sum  up  the 
'  seventy  souls,'  that,  to  give  np  this  point,  is  to  give 
up  an  essential  part  of  the  whole  story.  But  then  this 
point  cannot  be  maintained,  however  essential  to  the 
narrative,  without  supposing  that  the  other  series  of 
events  had  taken  place  beforehand,  which  we  have 
seen  to  be  incredible. 


THE   FAMILY   OF   JUDAH.  63 

21.  Let  us  now  see  how  this  part  of  the  Bible  is 
treated  by  those  interpreters,  who  wish  to  maintain  the 
authenticity  and  historical  character  of  the  Pentateuch, 
and  whether  they  adhere  to  the  principles  of  honest 
and  truthful  exposition,  so  admirably  laid  down  in  the 
following  extracts  : — 

There  is  no  attaining  a  satisfactory  view  of  the  mutual  relations  of 
Science  and  Scripture,  till  men  make  up  their  minds  to  do  violence  to 
neither,  and  to  deal  faithfully  with  both.  On  the  very  threshold,  therefore, 
of  such  discussions  as  the  present,  we  are  encountered  by  the  necessity  for 
a  candid,  truthful,  and  impartial  exegesis  of  the  sacred  text.  This  can 
never  be  honoured  by  being  put  to  the  torture.  We  ought  to  harbour  no 
hankering  after  so-called  '  reconciliations,'  or  allow  these  to  warp  in  the 
very  least  our  rendering  of  the  record.  It  is  our  business  to  decipher,  not 
to  prompt, — to  keep  our  ears  open  to  what  the  Scripture  says,  not  to  exer- 
cise our  ingenuity  on  what  it  can  be  made  to  say.  We  must  purge  our 
minds  at  once  of  that  order  of  prepossessions,  which  is  incident  to  an  over 
timid  faith,  and,  not  less  scrupulously,  of  those  counter-prejudices,  which 
beset  a  jaundiced  and  captious  scepticism.  For  there  may  be  an  eagerness 
to  magnify,  and  even  to  invent,  difficulties,  as  well  as  an  anxiety  to  muffle 
them  up,  and  smooth  them  over, — of  which  last,  the  least  pleasing  shape  is 
an  affectation  of  contempt,  disguising  obvious  perplexity  and  trepidation. 
Those,  who  seek  the  repose  of  Truth,  had  best  banish  from  the  quest  of  it, 
in  whatever  field,  the  spirit  and  the  methods  of  sophisti-y.  Replies  to  Es- 
says and  Hevieivs,  Rev.  G.  Roeison,  p.  277. 

Let  the  interpreter  then  resolve,  with  God's  assisting  grace,  to  be  can- 
did and  truthful.  Let  him  fear  not  to  state  honestly  the  results  of  his  own 
honest  investigations ;  let  him  be  simple,  reverent,  and  plain-spoken ;  and, 
above  all,  let  him  pray  against  that  sectarian  bias,  which,  by  importing  its 
own  foregone  conclusions  into  the  word  of  Scripture,  and  by  refusing  to  sec 
or  to  acknowledge  what  makes  against  its  own  prejudices,  has  proved  the 
greatest  known  hindrance  to  all  fair  interpretation,  and  has  tended,  more 
than  anything  else  in  the  world,  to  check  the  free  course  of  Divine  Truth. 
Aids  to  Faith,  Dean  Ellicott,  ^3.  421. 

Those,  however,  who  are  satisfied  that  the  above 
statements  of  the  Bible  do  involve  a  manifest  contra- 
diction, and  who  are  not  interested  in  seeing  how  good 


64  THE   FAanLY   OF  JUDAH. 

men  will  '  do  violence '  to  the  plain  meaning  of  the 
Scripture,  in  order  to  evade  snch  a  difficulty,  may  do 
well  to  omit  the  next  Chapter  altogether,  and  pass  on 
to  the  arguments  which  follow. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   EXPLAJSTATIONS   OF   EXPOSITORS   CONSIDERED. 

22.  Haveknick  does  not  seem  to  be  at  all  aware  of 
the  difficulty,  and  states  the  plain  meaning  of  the  pas- 
sage as  follows,  Pent.  p.  224  : — 

We  have  now  in  G.  xlvi  the  register  of  the  tribes,  introduced  with  genuine 
historical  fideHty  to  truth.  The  comparison  of  it  with  the  statements  re- 
specting the  tribes  in  N.  xxvi,  and  with  the  Genealogies  in  Chronicles,  puts 
its  credibility  (!)  and  its  antiquity  beyond  doubt.  For  each  of  these  gene- 
alogies rests  upon  the  other:  that  which  is  contained  in  Genesis  is  expressly 
presupposed,  and  has  been  made  use  of  in  the  two  later  ones.  In  connec- 
tion with  this,  it  is  a  circumstance  not  to  be  overlooked,  that  in  Genesis  we 
possess  the  completest  list  of  Jacob's  family.  The  deviations  from  it  in  the 
other  genealogies  are  mainly  confined  to  the  omission  of  certain  names. 
.  .  .  This  circumstance  admits  of  a  sufficient  explanation  only  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  sons,  who  were  subsequently  omitted,  left  no  posterity 
behind  them,  on  which  account  it  would  be  intelligible  that  they  should  be 
passed  over  in  the  book  of  Numbers,  where  it  is  only  fomilies  and  races 
that  are  spoken  of  Our  docnmcnt  is  thus  acquainted  only  with  the  origi- 
nal relatio)is  of  Jacofs  fauiili/,  at  the  time  that  he  went  down  into  Egypt, 
and  is  quite  unconcerned  about  its  later  formation. 

23.  Scott  writes  : — 

Judah  was  the  fourth  son  of  Leah,  and  Joseph  was  bom  when  Jacob 
had  been  married  about  seven  years.  Consequently,  Judah  might  be  about 
three  or  four  years  older  than  Joseph ;  yet  he  could  not  be  above  forty- 
four  at  this  time,  for  Joseph  was  only  forty.  His  two  sons,  Er  and  Onan, 
had  been  married  to  Tamar,  and  a  considerable  time  after  their  death  had 


66        THE    EXPLANATIONS    OF    EXPOSITORS    CONSIDERED. 

elapsed  before  Pharez  was  born.  It  can  then  hardly  be  conceived  that  this 
event  took  place  much  before  Judah  was  forty  years  old.  So  that  Pharez 
could  not  be  more  than  four  or  five  years  old  at  this  time.  The  heads  of 
families,  therefore,  which  were  born  in  Egypt  during  Jacobus  life,  seem  to 
have  been  included. 

24.  The  above  argument  is  stated  more  fully  by 
Kurtz,  ii.^j>.  6  : — 

(i)  '  Hengstenberg  has  entered  thoroughly  into  an  examination  of  the 
difficulty  referred  to,  and  solves  it  on  the  ground  that  the  grandsons  and 
great-grandsons  of  Jacob,  though  not  yet  born,  were  in  their  fathers,  and 
therefore  entered  Egypt  with  them.' 

Ans.  Why  not  also  the  great-great-grandsons,  and  so  on,  ad  infini- 
tum ? 

(ii)  '  Objections  have  been  raised  to  this  interpretation  from  various 
quarters :  but  we  must  still  adhere  to  it.' 

Ans.  We  '  must  adhere  to  it,'  that  is,  of  course,  if  the  historical  char- 
acter of  the  Pentateuch  is  to  be  maintained. 

(iii)  '  The  view  referred  to,  which  sees  in  the  father,  the  ensemble  of  his 
descendants,  is  common  to  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament.' 

Ans.  But  why  does  the  Sacred  Writer  draw  any  contrast  between  the 
'  three-score  and  ten  persons,'  who  iccnt  down  to  Egypt,  and  the  '  multi- 
tude, as  the  stars  of  heaven,'  who  came  out,  since  these  last,  as  well  as  the 
former,  were  all  in  the  loins  of  their  father  Jacob  ? 

(iv)  '  We  find  it  repeatedly  in  the  promises  of  God  to  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  '  I  will  give  thee  the  land,'  •'  In  thee  shall  all  nations  of  the  earth 
be  blessed,'  '  TIlou  shalt  be  a  blessing,'  &c. ;  and  in  the  section  before  us 
there  are  unmistakeable  examples  of  it,  '  I  will  bring  thee  up  again,'  v.  4, 
evidently  not  the  individual  person  of  Jacob,  but  his  descendants,  who 
were  not  yet  in  existence,  and  of  whom  Jacob  was  the  one  representa- 
tive.' 

Ans.  The  instances  here  quoted,  where  the  ancestor  is  put  for  the 
whole  race,  bear  no  analogy  whatever  to  the  case  now  before  us,  where  the 
children  are  referred  to  by  name,  as  well  as  the  parent. 

(v)  '  Why,  then,  should  not  the  same  writer,  or  even  another,  be  able  to 
say,  from  the  same  point  of  view,  that  the  sons  of  Pharez  went  down  in 
their  father  to  Egypt  ? ' 

Ans.  Because,  from  the  same  point  of  view,  it  would  be  necessary  that 
the  children  of  Eeuben's  sons,  and  Simeon's,  and  Levi's,  &c.,  should  all  be 
named  and  counted  in  like  manner,  as  being  in  their  father,  though  not  yel 
born. 


THE   EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDERED.       67 

(vi)  'And  just  as  Joseph's  sons,  though  born  in  Egypt,  are  reckoned 
among  the  souls  who  came  to  Egypt,  because  in  their  father  they  had  come 
thither,  so  also  may  these  descendants  of  Jacob,  who  came  to  Egypt  in 
their  fathers,  be  regarded  as  having  come  with  Jacob  thither.' 

A71S.  The  narrative  lays  no  stress  whatever  on  the  mere  fact  of  their 
'coming  to'  Egypt,  in  the  case  of  Joseph's  sons,  as  if  they  had  come,  be- 
cause their  father  had  come.  The  fact  of  their  being  born  in  Egypt,  or 
rather  beincf  in  Egypt,  at  this  time,  is  all  that  the  writer  takes  account  of; 
though,  wishing  to  sum  up  the  seventy  souls  under  one  category,  he  uses 
(inaccurately,  as  he  himself  admits)  the  same  expression,  'came  into  Egypt.' 
So  he  sums  up,  inaccurately,  Jacob  himself,  as  one  of  the  '  seventy  souls, 
among  his  children  in  v.  8, — '  These  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
which  came  into  Egypt,  Jacob  and  his  sons.''  And  he  includes  him  again 
among  the  sons  of  Leah  in  v.  15, — 'all  the  souls  of  his  sons  and  his  daugh- 
ters *  were  thirty  and  three,' — which  they  would  not  be  without  reckoning 
Jacob,  as  mentioned  in  v.  8.  As  to  Leah  herself,  and  the  other  wives  of 
Jacob,  it  would  seem  that  they  are  omitted  as  dead ;  since  in  v.  5  we  read, 
'  the  sons  of  Israel  carried  Jacob  their  father,  and  their  little  ones,  and 
their  wives,'  no  mention  being  made  of  their  mothers :  and  so,  too,  in  v. 
26,  mention  is  made  of '  Jacob's  sons'  wives,'  but  not  of  his  own. 

25.  Kurtz  continues  his  remarks  as  follows  : — 

(i)  '  The  reasons  already  assigned  serve  to  show  that  such  an  explana- 
tion is  both  admissible  and  necessary  ;  and  the  following  data  heighten  its 
probability.'' 

Ans.  It  is  wholly  inadmissible,  with  the  passages  quoted  in  (19)  before 
our  eyes ;  and  only  necessary,  if  the  veracity  of  the  Pentateuch  must  be 
nvaintained  at  all  cost,  since  the  historical  truth  of  the  whole  Mosaic  narra- 
tive, which  in  so  many  places  reiterates  the  statement  in  question,  is  seri- 
ously involved  in  its  accuracy.  It  will  be  seen,  presently,  that  not  one  of 
the  '  data,'  which  Kurtz  is  about  to  give,  tends  in  any  degree  to  diminish 
the  difficulty. 

(ii)  '  In  the  list  of  the  families  of  Israel,  which  was  prepared  in  the  last 
year  of  the  journey  through  the  desert,  N.  xxvi,  there  are  no  grandsons 
of  Jacob  mentioned  besides  those  named  in  G.  xlvi.  It  is  difficult  to  ex- 
plain this,  if  the  arrival  in  Egypt,  spoken  of  in  G.  xlvi,  is  to  be  taken  pre- 


*  He  has  named  only  one  daughter,  Dinah,  v.  15.  But  the  Hebrew 
idiom  allows  of  this ;  thus  in  v.  23  we  have  '  The  sons  of  Dan,  Hushim ; ' 
and  so  in  v.  27  we  read  of  his  '  sons'  daughters,''  though  only  one  is  men- 
tioned, Serah,  the  daughter  of  Asher,  v.  17. 


68       THE   EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDEEED. 

cisely  as  a  terminus  ad  quern.  Are  we  to  suppose,  then,  that  there  were 
no  children  born  to  Jacob's  sons  in  the  land  of  Egypt  ? ' 

Ans.  Certainly,  if  the  plain  meaning  of  the  text  of  Scripture  will  not 
allow  us  to  suppose  the  contrary.  There  was,  however,  Jochebed,  the 
daughter  of  Levi,  who  is  not  numbered  with  the  '  seventy  souls '  in  G.  xlvi, 
and  whom,  it  is  expressly  said,  her  mother  '  bare  to  Levi  hi  Egypt,^  N. 
xxvi.  59. 

There  are  also  several  great-grandsons  of  Jacob  besides  those  named  in 
G.  xlvi,  which  are  mentioned  in  N.  xxvi,  as  v.  8,  Eliab,  the  son  of  Pallu,  v. 
29,  Machir,  the  son  of  Manasseh,  v.  35,  Shuthelah,  Becher,  and  Tahan,  the 
sons  of  Ephraim.  Moreover,  Zarah,  Judah's  other  son  by  Tamar,  had  a 
son,  Zabdi,  Jo.  vii.  1,  who  is  not  mentioned  in  G.  xlvi,  but  appears  in  1 
Ch.  ii.  6,  under  the  name  of  Zimri,  with  four  other  sons  of  Zarah. 

(iii)  '  In  G.  xlvi.  5,  where  there  is  no  question  of  genealogy,  and  the 
individuals  emigrating  are  described  from  a  historical  point  of  view,  we 
read  not  oi  i\\e  grcmdchildren  of  Jacob's  sons,  but  merely  of  ihelv  cliildren, 
who  are  described  as  little  ones.' 

Ans.  KiTRTZ  should  have  written  'but  merely  of  their  little  ones;''  for 
there  is  nothing  said  about  their  being  only  '  children ; '  they  might  be 
children  or  grandchildren.  If  it  were  necessary  to  give  any  further  reply 
to  so  feeble  an  argument,  we  might  say  that  the  expression  '  little  one '  is 
used  in  G.  xliv.  20  of  Benjamin,  when  he  must  have  been  more  than 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  since  he  was  born  before  Joseph,  at  seventeen 
years  of  age,  G.  xxxvii.  2,  was  sold  into  Egypt,  and  Joseph  was  now 
thirty-nine  (20,  note),  and  he  remembered  his  brother  tenderly.  In  fact, 
Benjamin  had  actually,  according  to  the  story,  ten  sons  of  his  own,  G.  xlvi. 
21,  possibly  by  more  than  one  wife;  and  yet  he  is  called  a  'little  one.' 
Hence  full-grown  sons,  such  as  Pharez  and  Zarah,  might  be  included  in  the 
expression  '  little  ones,'  as  well  as  their  children.  Again,  in  G.  xlvi.  7,  we 
read,  '  his  sons  and  his  sons'  sons  with  him,  his  daughters  and  his  sons' 
daughters,  ['his  daughters  and  his  c/ai/^/iiers' daughters,' LXX,]  and  all 
his  seed,  brought  he  with  him  into  Egypt.'  And,  accordingly,  in  v.  lY,  we 
have  two  grandchildren  of  Asher,  Heber  and  Malchiel. 

(iv)  '  In  the  case  of  Hezron  and  Hamul,  the  author  appears  desirous  of 
intimating  that  they  were  not  born  in  Canaan,  and  that  he  regarded  them 
as  substitutes  for  Er  and  Onan,  who  died  there.  Vexema  has  expressed  the 
same  opinion.  Thus  he  says :  '  It  is  probable  that  the  sons  of  Pharez,  who 
were  born  in  Egypt,  are  mentioned,  because  they  were  substituted  for  the 
two  sons  of  Judah,  who  died  in  Canaan.  The  historian  clearly  asserts  as 
much ;  and,  when  he  adds  that  the  latter  died  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  he 


THE   EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDEKED.        69 

plainly  implies  that  the  sons  of  Pharez,  who  were  put  in  their  place,  had 
not  been  born  there.'  ' 

A71S.  But,  if  Hezron  and  Hamul  are  substituted  for  Er  and  Onan,  for 
whom  are  Heber  and  Malchiel,  the  sons  of  Beriah,  Asher's  son,  v.  17, 
supposed  to  be  substituted  ?  And  how  is  it  that  Hezron  and  Hamul,  the 
sons  of  Pharez,  are  mentioned,  and  Zabdi  and  the  other  sons  of  Zarah,  are 
not  mentioned  ?  Plainly,  because  the  former  are  supposed  to  have  been 
born  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  the  latter  not. 

26.  I  have  quoted  at  full  length  the  arguments  of 
KuETz,  as  being  those  of  one  of  the  best  modern  de- 
fenders of  the  ordinary  view.  Their  feebleness  is  itself 
the  strongest  proof  of  the  unsoundness  of  his  position. 
Nothing,  indeed,  has  more  tended  to  convince  my  own 
mind  of  the  hollowness  of  the  cause  which  he  advo- 
cates, than  the  efforts  made  by  himself  and  Hengsten- 
BEEG,  in  this  and  other  instances,  (as  we  shall  see  here- 
after,) to  force  the  text  of  Scripture  to  say  what  it 
plainly  does  not  say,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  a  palpable 
contradiction.  At  the  same  time,  I  gladly  pay  a  tribute 
of  respect  to  the  ability  and  candour,  with  which 
KuETz  generally  writes.  In  respect  of  the  latter  quality 
he  contrasts  very  favourably  with  some  other  writers 
on  both  sides  of  the  question.* 

*For  instance,  I  do  not  remember  to  have  met  with  in  Kurtz  anywhere 
a  sweeping  charge,  of  dishoncfit  concealment  of  the  truth,  made  against  his 
opponents  generally,  as  in  the  following  passage  of  Hengstenderg,  ii.  432. 

'  From  the  rationalistic  expositors  no  correction  of  this  error  could  be 
expected,  since  they  had  an  interest  in  not  noticing  it.  Excepting  on 
account  of  thin  interest,  it  is  scarcely  explicable  how  such  men  as  Gese- 
Nius  and  De  Wette  could  act  as  if  this  false  interpretation  were  the  only 
possible  and  existing  one.' 

The  error  in  question  is  the  retaining  the  translation  '  lend '  in  E.  xii. 
36,  which,  according  to  H.,  means  '  give :'  the  Israelites  '  asked,'  not  '  bor- 
rowed,' of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  Egyptians  'gav«\'  not  'lent,'  their  jewels. 
Whether  he  is  right  or  wrong  in  this  criticism,  it  is  one,  he  admits,  which  is 
opposed  to  the  rendering  of  the  LXX,  Jerome,  Luther,  Calvin,  as  well  as 


TO      THE   EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDERED. 

27.  It  may  be  well,  however,  to  quote  here  the  ex- 
act words  of  Hengstenberg,  Pent.  ii.  289-294,  with 
reference  to  the  question  now  before  us,  that  so  the 
reader  may  be  able  to  judge  for  himself  as  to  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  above  statements.  It  will  be  seen  that 
most  of  his  arguments  have  been  reproduced  by  Kurtz, 
and  have  been  already  disposed  of.  The  others  prob- 
ably appeared  to  Kurtz  himself  to  be  too  weak  to  de- 
serve a  notice. 

'  The  following  reasons  may  be  assigned  for  believing  that  the  author 
did  not  intend  to  name  only  those  who  were  born  at  the  time  of  going 
down  into  Egypt. 

(i)  '  Keuben,  when  Jacob's  sons  wished  to  take  their  last  journey  to 
Egypt,  had  no  more  than  two  sons.  This  is  evident  from  xlii.  37,  'Slay 
my  two  sons,  if  I  bring  him'  not  to  thee.'  If  he  had  had  several,  he  would 
have  made  the  offer  of  several.  But,  in  xlvi.  9,  four  sons  of  Reuben  are 
enumerated.     Two  of  these  must,  therefore,  have  been  born  in  Egypt.' 

Ans.  This  is  quite  in  Hengstenberg's  style, — '  two  mu&t  (not  might)  have 
been  born  in  Egypt.'  But  Reuben's  words  were  spoken  when  they  had 
returned  from  Egypt  the  first  time,  not  when  they  were  about  to  go  down 
the  second  time,  xliii.  2.  A  whole  year  appears  to  have  elapsed,  according 
to  the  story,  between  the  first  journey  and  the  second,  xlv.  6 ;  and,  after 
that,  some  time  elapsed  before  Jacob  went  down  to  Egypt.  At  all  events, 
the  interval  between  the  time  of  Reuben's  speech,  and  that  of  Jacob's  mi- 
gration, was  quite  long  enough  for  two  more  sons  to  have  been  born  to 
Reuben  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

(ii)  '  The  representation  of  Benjamin  as  a  youth  is  so  fixed  and  constant, 
that  it  could  not  enter  the  thoughts  of  an  Israelite,  that,  on  his  going  down  ■ 
into  Egypt,  he  had  ten  sons:  comp.  xliii.  8,  xliv.  80,  31,  33,  where  he  is 
called  issn,  and  xliii.  29,  where  Joseph  calls  him  his  son.' 

Ans.  We  have  shown  above  (25,  iii)  that  Benjamin,  though  called  a 
'youth,' was  more  than  twenty-two  years  old,  according  to  the  story,  at 

to  that  of  Aben-Ezra,  Philo,  and  other  ancient  Jews.  It  is  surely  con- 
ceivable that  Gesexius  and  De  Wette  may  have  adhered  to  the  usual 
translation,  not  from  a  dishonest  purpose,  but  because  they  thought  it  the 
true  one. 


THE   EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDEEED.       71 

the  time  of  Jacob's  migration.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  possible  that  lie  may 
have  had  ton  sons, — perhaps,  by  several  wives. 

(lii)  '  The  author  appears  specially  to  indicate,  respecting  Ilczron  and 
Hamul,  that  they  were  a  kind  of  compensation  for  Er  and  Onan,  and  that 
they  were  not  born  in  the  laud  of  Canaan :  comp.  v.  12,  '  But  Er  and  Onan 
died  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  the  sons  of  Pharez  were  Hezron  and 
Hamul.' ' 

Ans.  The  author  indicates  merely  that  Er  and  Onan,  though  sons  of 
Judah,  were  not  to  be  numbered  with  those  who  went  down  into  Egypt. 

(iv)  '  Immediately  before  the  genealogy,  it  is  said,  xlvi.  5,  '  And  the 
sons  of  Israel  carried  Jacob  their  father,  and  their  little  ones,  in  the  wagons. 
Also,  according  to  xliii.  8,  the  family  consisted  of  Jacob,  his  sons,  and  their 
little  ones — 'both  we,  and  thou,  and  also  our  little  ones.'  But,  in  the 
genealogy,  Jacob's  grandchildren  are  mentioned  as  having  children.  It 
cannot,  therefore,  have  been  the  author's  design  to  restrict  himself  exactly 
to  the  point  of  time,  when  the  children  of  Israel  entered  Egypt.' 

Ans.  We  have  answered  this  above  in  (25,  iii).  But  we  may  add  also, 
why  are  not  the  children  named  of  all  Jacob's  grandchildren,  as  well  as 
those  of  Pharez  and  Beriah,  except  that  the  latter  only  are  intended  to 
be  understood  as  born  in  the  land  of  Canaan? 

(v)  '  In  N.  xxvi,  not  a  single  grandson  of  Jacob  is  mentioned  besides 
those  whose  names  are  given  in  G.  xlvi.  But  this  can  hardly  be  explained, 
if  in  G.  xlvi  the  going  down  into  Egypt  is  taken  precisely  as  the  termimts 
ad  quein.     Were  no  other  sons  born  to  Jacob's  sons  in  Egypt  ? ' 

Answered  above  in  (25,  ii). 

(vi)  '  The  author,  in  G.  xxxvii.  2,  announces  the  '  genealogy  (E.  V. 
generations)  of  Jacob.'  The  sons  of  Jacob  had  been  already  enumerated 
in  the  genealogy  of  Isaac.  It  still  remained  for  him  to  mention  the  sons' 
sons,  and  perhaps  some  of  their  grandsons,  who  had  obtained  peculiar  im- 
portance. If  the  author  wished  to  fulfil  the  promise  given  in  xxxrii.  2,  he 
would  not  take  notice  of  the  accidental  circumstance  whether  the  sons'  sons 
were  born  in  Canaan  or  not,  but  would  exhibit  them  all  fully.  Besides,  a 
second  genealogical  review  must  follow  on  the  increase,  which  the  family 
of  Jacob  would  receive  in  Egypt.  But  such  a  one  is  not  extant.  At  the 
same  time,  the  author,  if  he  had  cut  off  everything  which  was  subsequent  to 
the  going  down  into  Egypt,  would  have  injured  the  genealogical  plan, 
which  lie  had  constantly  followed  from  the  beginning  of  his  work,  and 
which  had  been  already  marked  as  regulating  the  whole  by  the  subscription, 
'  This  is  the  genealogy,  &c.' ' 

Ans.  We  can  only  meet  this  'special  pleading'  with  the  plain  language 


72       TUE    EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDERED. 

of  the  Scripture,  xlvi.  26, — 'All  the  souls,  that  came  with  Jacob  into  Egypt, 
which  came  out  of  his  loins,  were  threescore  and  six.' 

28.  IIengstenberg  then  proceeds  as  follows  : — 

'  These  are  the  arguments  to  prove  that  it  could  not  have  been  the  de- 
sign of  the  author  merely  to  name  those  individuals  who  were  born  at  the 
going  down  into  Egypt.  Thus  supported,  we  say,  with  Hartmann,  '  what 
then  ? '  This  catalogue  is  the  hst  of  all  the  males  of  the  family  of  Jacob, 
which  were  born  either  in  Mesopotamia,  or  in  Canaan,  or  in  Egypt,  and  who 
either  died  without  heirs,  or  were  made  the  heads  or  chiefs  of  the  families 
of  the  posterity  of  Jacob,  as  appears  abundantly  from  N.  xxvi.  5.  Which, 
however,  of  his  sons'  sons  were  born  in  Canaan,  and  which,  besides  the 
sons  of  Joseph,  in  Egypt,  we  are  not  told  in  G.  xlvi. 

'  But,  against  this  result,  the  express  declaration  of  the  author  himself 
appears  to  militate.  When  in  v.  26  he  says,  '  All  the  souls,  that  came  with 
Jacob  into  Egypt,  which  came  out  of  his  loins,  besides  Jacob's  sons'  wives, 
all  the  souls  were  threescore  and  six,'  he  seems  as  decidedly  as  possible  to 
exclude  the  view  that  we  have  advocated.  According  to  it,  also,  it  seems 
that  the  contrast  made,  v.  26,  27,  between  the  souls  who  came  to  or  with 
Jacob  into  Egypt  on  the  one  hand,  and  Joseph  and  his  sons  on  the  other, 
is  not  to  be  explained. 

'  We  maintain,  however,  that  the  appearance  here  is  deceptive, — that 
the  author  regarded  those,  who  were  born  in  Egypt,  as  coming  in  the  per- 
son of  their  fathers  with  Jacob  into  Egypt.  Our  justification  of  this  opin- 
ion, by  which  the  contrast  between  v.  26,  27,  will  remain  complete,  is 
supported  by  the  following  reasons. 

(i)  '  It  is  said  in  v.  27,  '  All  the  souls  of  the  house  of  Jacob,  which  came 
into  Egypt,  were  seventy.''  Now,  since  here  Joseph's  sons  are  numbered 
with  the  souls  which  came  down  to  Egypt,  because  they,  although  born  in 
Egypt,  yet  came  in  their  father  thither,  with  equal  propriety,  among  the 
souls  which  came  with  Jacob  into  Egypt  might  those  grandchildren  of 
Jacob  be  reckoned,  who  came  thither  in  their  fathers.  This  reason  is  irre- 
fragable.' 

Ans.  But  evidently  the  sons  of  Joseph  are  not  reckoned  with  those 
who  went  down  into  Egypt  with  Jacob,  because  they  '  went  down  in  their 
father,'  but  because  they  were  born  there,  or,  rather,  were  living  there, 
were  '  in  Egypt  already,'  at  the  time  of  Jacob's  migration.  The  description 
is,  of  course,  literally  incorrect ;  Vnit  the  writer's  meaning  is  obvious  enough. 
He  wishes  to  specify  all  those,  '  out  of  the  loins  of  Jacob,'  who  were  living 
at  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt, 
and  from  whom  such  a  multitude  had  sprung  at  the  time  of  the  Exodtis. 


THE    EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDERED.       73 

Otherwise,  as  said  above,  why  has  he  mentioned  grandchildren  only  of 
Judah  and  Asher,  and  not  of  the  other  sons  of  Jacob,  as,  for  instance,  the 
grandsons  of  Levi  ?  In  point  of  fact,  in  the  writer's  view,  Joseph  himself 
had  not  '  gone  down '  into  Egypt  till  his  father  went.  He  had  been  carried 
down  as  a  captive  many  years  before:  but  from  this  time  dates  his  true 
migration  into  Egypt,  when  his  father  settled  there,  and  he  and  his  sons 
shared  in  '  the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel.' 

(ii)  'v.  15  deserves  to  be  noticed:  'These  be  the  sons  of  Leah,  which 
she  bare  unto  Jacob  in  Padan-Aram,  with  her  daughter  Dinah :  all  the 
souls  of  his  sons  and  his  daughters  were  thirty-three.'  By  the  term  '  sons,' 
here  and  in  v.  8,  we  may  either  understand  sons  in  a  strict  sense,  or  admit 
that  it  is  used  in  a  wider  signification.  In  both  cases  the  sons  appear  as 
appurtenances  of  their  fathers,  as  in  them  already  existing  and  born.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  v.  18, — '  These  are  the  sons  of  Zilpah,  whom  Laban 
gave  imto  Leah  his  daughter;  and  these  she  bare  unto  Jacob,  sixteen 
souls.'  ' 

(iii)  '  In  D.  x.  22, — '  Thy  fathers  went  down  into  Egypt  with  threescore 
and  ten  persons,' — Joseph's  sons,  at  all  events,  are  considered  as  having 
come  down  in  their  father  to  Egypt.' 

(iv)  '  This  mode  of  viewing  family  connections,  so  foreign  to  our  no- 
tion.s,  may  be  easily  detected  in  a  multitude  of  other  places,  especially  in 
Genesis.  We  only  refer  to  the  instance  in  xlvi.  4,  '  I  will  go  down  with 
thee  into  Egypt,  and  I  will  also  surely  bring  thee  up  again.'  ' 

Ans.  The  above  three  arguments  seem  to  need  no  reply  beyond  what 
has  been  already  given  in  (24). 

'  But,  it  may  be  asked.  If  the  author  gave  the  names  of  others,  besides 
those  who  were  already  born  when  Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt,  how  was 
it  that,  not  content  with  naming  them,  he  also  states  their  number?  When 
he  states  the  aggregate  of  Jacob's  family  to  be  '  seventy  souls,'  it  seems  to 
indicate  that  all  the  persons  named  were  already  born. 

'  We  reply,  the  author's  object  in  making  this  computation  is  to  show 
from  how  small  a  quantity  of  seed  so  rich  a  harvest  was  produced.  This 
we  learn  from  E.  i.  5,  '  And  all  the  souls  that  came  out  of  the  loins  of 
Jacob  were  seventy  souls,'  and  v.  7,  '  The  children  of  Israel  were  fruitful, 
and  increased  abundantly,  and  multiplied,  and  waxed  exceeding  mighty, 
and  the  laud  was  filled  with  them;'  also  from  D.  x.  22,  'Thy  fathers  went 
down  into  Egypt  with  threescore  and  ten  persons ;  and  now  Jehovah  thy 
God  hath  made  thee  as  the  stars  of  heaven  for  multitude.'  A  counterpart 
to  this  enumeration  is  the  account  of  the  number  of  Israel  at  the  departure 
4 


74      THE   EXPLANATIONS    OF   EXPOSITOKS    CONSIDEKED. 

from  Egypt  iu  N.  i,  and  before  their  entrance  into  Canaan  in  N.  xxvi. 
Here  is  the  seed, — there  the  harvest. 

'For  this  object  it  was  perfectly  indilferent  to  the  author,  whether  the 
numbers  were  40,  50,  60,  or  VO.  The  contrasts  between  these  numbers 
and  the  Imndreds  of  thousands  remains  the  same.  The  author,  who  must 
be  measured  by  the  standard  of  a  sacred  historian  (!),  not  of  a  writer  on 
statistics,  could  hence  follow  his  theological  principle,  which  recommended 
to  him  the  choice  of  the  number  seventy.  Seven  is  the  signature  of  the 
covenant  relation  between  God  and  Israel,  the  special  theocratic  number. 
By  fixing  on  the  covenant  number^  the  author  intimated  that  the  increase 
was  the  covenant  blessing  (!). 

'  The  number  70  itself  leads  to  the  conjecture  that  some  members  were 
either  left  out  or  interpolated.  If  the  author's  aim  had  not  been  to  com- 
plete the  number,  he  could  not,  iu  contradiction  to  the  principle  which  he 
elsewhere  always  follows,  have  included  Dinah  and  Serah,  the  latter  of 
whom  had  no  more  right  than  all  the  rest  of  Jacob's  female  grandchildren 
to  a  place  in  the  genealogy.  That  he  did  this,  and  inserted  a  numlDcr  of 
the  members  of  the  family  who  were  born  in  Egypt,  is  accounted  for  on  the 
same  principle.  Similar  modes  of  computation  are  found  in  other  parts  of 
Holy  Writ,  as  in  Matt.  i.  17.' 

Ans.  Surely,  if  the  author  only  needed  extra  names  to  fill  up  the  num- 
ber seventy,  he  would  have  inserted  two  of  the  sons  of  Zarah  rather  than 
the  two  females,  Dinah  and  Serah. 

29.  It  is  painful  to  mark  the  shifts,  to  which  so 
eminent  an  author  has  had  recourse,  in  order  to  avoid 
confessing  the  manifest  truth  in  this  matter.  Of  course, 
if  a  writer  sets  out  with  the  determination  to  maintain 
at  all  costs  the  '  Veracity  and  Authenticity '  of  every 
portion  of  the  Pentateuch,  something  must  be  said  in 
order,  if  possible,  to  dispose  of  such  contradictions  as 
those  which  we  are  here  considering,  I  have  given  the 
above  at  full  length,  as  a  sample  of  the  manner  in 
which  Hengstenbekg,  who  is  represented  as  one  of  the 
greatest  modern  champions  of  the  ordinary  view,  at- 
tempts to  set  aside  the  plain  meaning  of  the  Scripture. 
In  a  multitude  of  other  cases,  his  arguments  will  be 
found  upon  examination  to  be  just  as  feeble  and  un- 


THE   EXPLANATIONS   OF   EXPOSITORS    CONSIDERED.       75 

satisfactory  as  the  above,  as  will  more  fully  ai)pear  by 
the  references  we  shall  make  to  his  book  in  the  course 
of  this  work.  It  would  answer,  however,  no  useful 
purpose  to  quote  continually  from  him,  as  we  have  just 
done,  in  extenso.  But  the  reader  may  depend  on  no 
single  argument  of  his  being  omitted,  which  may  seem 
to  me  for  any  reason  worth  noticing,  in  the  progress  of 
our  enquiry  ;  and  his  work,  which  may  be  found  in  an 
English  translation  in  '  Clark's  Theological  Library,'  is 
easily  accessible  to  any  one. 

30.  Lastly,  Pool  comments  as  follows  : — 

'  Hezron  and  Hamul,  thottgh  they  seein  to  have  been  horn  in  Egypt,  yet 
are  here  set  down  amongst  those  who  came  into  Egypt,  because  they  came 
hither  in  tlieir  father's  loins,  as  Levi  is  said  to  '  pay  tithes  in  Abraliam.' 
And  the  children  may  as  well  be  said  to  come  thither  in  their  parents,  as 
their  father  Jacob  is  said  to  return  from  thence,  v.  4,  in  his  children.  06- 
ject.  If  this  be  the  sense,  why  should  these  two  be  mentioned  rather  than 
the  grandchildren  of  the  other  brethren,  who  came  into  Egypt  in  the  same 
manner  ? 

'■Ans.  This  may  be  done  either  (i)  From  some  special  excellency  or 
emiuency  in  them  above  the  rest,  as  Hezron  was  eminent  for  being  the 
progenitor  of  the  Messiah,  and  Hamul  might  be  so  for  some  other  cause, 
though  unknown  to  us ;  or  (ii)  Because  they  were  the  Jirst  grandchildren 
that  were  born  in  Egypt,  and,  it  may  be,  all  that  were  bor7i  there  while 
Jacob  lived  there,  and  therefore  are  not  unfitly  named  with  Jacob,  and 
allotted  to  him ;  as  Joseph's  two  eldest  sons,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  were 
by  Jacob  appropriated  to  himself,  and  reckoned  as  his  immediate  sons, 
when  all  the  rest  of  Joseph's  sons  were  excluded  from  that  privilege, 
G.  xlviii.  5,  6.  And  the  like  may  be  said  of  the  other  two  grandchildren 
mentioned  v.  17.* 

*  See  page  22T. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   SIZE   OF   THE   COIJKT   OF   THE   TABERNACLE   COMPARED 
WITH   THE   NUMBER   OF   THE    CONGREGATION. 

31.  And  Jehovah  sjpake  unto  Moses,  saying,  .  .  . 
Gather  thou  all  the  Congregation  together  unto  the  door 
of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation.  And  Moses  did 
as  Jehovah  commanded  him.  And  the  Assembly  was 
gathered  together  unto  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the 
Congregation.     L,  viii.  1-4. 

First,  it  appears  to  be  certain  that  by  the  expres- 
sions used  SO  often,  here  and  elsewhere,  '  the  Assem- 
bly,' '  the  w^hole  A  ssembly ,'  '  all  the  Congregation,'  is 
meant  the  w^liole  body  of  the  peojjle — at  all  events,  the 
adult  males  in  the  ])rime  of  life  among  them — and  not 
merely  the  elders  or  heads  of  the  people,  as  some  have 
supposed,  ill  oi'der  to  escape  from  such  difficulties  as 
that  which  we  are  now  about  to  consider.  At  any  rate, 
I  cannot,  with  due  regard  to  the  truth,  allow  myself  to 
believe,  or  attempt  to  persuade  others  to  believe,  that 
such  expressions  as  the  above  can  possibly  be  meant  to 
be  understood  of  the  elders  only. 

32.  We  read,  for  instance,  with  reference  to  the 
Passover,  '  The  whole  Assembly  of  the  Congregation  of 
Israel  shall  kill  it  in  the  evening,'  E.  xii.  6  ;  and  again, 


THE  SIZE  OF  THE  COUKT  OF  THE  TABEENACLE.    77 

'  The  whole  Congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel  mur- 
mured against  Moses  and  Aaron  in  the  wilderness ;  and 
the  children  of  Israel  said  unto  them,  .  .  .  Ye 
have  brought  us  forth  into  this  wilderness,  to  kill  this 
wlioU  AssemUy  with  hunger.'  E.  xvi.  2,  3.  And 
'  Moses  and  Aaron  fell  on  their  faces  before  all  the 
AssemUy  of  the  Congregation  of  the  children  of 
Israel.'  IST.  xiv.  5.  And,  when  the  people  were  num- 
bered, they  '  assembled  all  the  Congregation  together, 
and  they  declared  their  pedigrees,  after  their  families, 
by  the  house  of  their  fathers.'  N.  i.  18.  So  '  all  the 
Congregation''  stoned  the  blasphemer,  L.  xxiv.  14,  and 
the  sabbath-breaker,  N.  xv.  36.  So,  too,  Korah  '  gath- 
ered all  the  Congregation  against  Moses  and  Aaron, 
unto  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation ; 
and  the  glory  of  Jehovah  appeared  unto  all  the  Con- 
gregation. .  .  .  And  Moses  rose  up,  and  went  unto 
Dathan  and  Abiram,  and  the  elders  of  Israel  followed 
him,'  N.  xvi.  19,  25, — where  the  '  elders '  are  plainly 
distinguished  from  '  all  tJie  Congregation.'  And,  when 
the  plague  broke  out,  we  are  told,  '  Aaron  took  as 
Moses  commanded,  and  ran  into  the  midst  of  the  Con- 
gregation., and,  behold,  the  plague  was  begun  among 
the  people.'  N.  xvi.  47.  And,  '  When  thou  shalt  blow 
with  them  (the  two  trumpets)  all  the  Assembly  shall 
assemble  themselves  to  thee  at  the  door  of  the  Taber- 
nacle of  the  Congregation  ;  and,  if  thou  blow  but  with 
one  trumpet,  then  the  princes.,  which  are  heads  of  the 
thousands  of  Israel,  shall  gather  themselves  unto  thee.' 
N^.  X.  3,  4.  And  once  more,  '  There  was  not  a  word  of 
all  which  Moses  commanded,  which  Joshua  read  not 
before  all  the  Congregation  of  Israel,  with  the  women., 


78    THE  SIZE  OF  THE  COURT  OF  THE  TABERNACLE 

and  the  Utile  ones,  and  the  strangers  that  were  conver- 
sant among  them,'     Jo.  viii.  35. 

33.  From  some  of  the  above  passages,  indeed,  it 
might  be  reasonably  inferred,  that  the  women  also  and 
children  would  be  included  in  the  '  whole  Congrega- 
tion.' For  we  cannot  suppose  that  these  were  exempt 
from  death,  when  the  plague  broke  out  '  in  the  Congre- 
gation.' At  all  events,  it  follows  distinctly  from  the 
last  passage  that  the  old  men  must  be  considered  to  be 
included  in  it.  But  let  us  confine  our  attention  for  the 
present  to  the  603,550  warriors,  N,  ii.  32,  who  certainly 
must  have  formed  a  part  of  '  the  whole  Congregation,' 
leaving  out  of  consideration  the  multitude  of  old  men, 
women,  and  children. 

34.  This  vast  body  of  people,  then,  received  on 
this  occasion,  and  on  other  similar  occasions,  as  we  are 
told,  an  express  command  from  Jehovah  Himself,  to 
assemble  '  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congre- 
gation.' We  need  not  press  the  word  '  all,'  so  as  to 
include  every  individual  man  of  this  number.  Still 
the  expression,  '  all  the  Congregation,'  the  '  whole 
Assembly,'  must  be  surely  understood  to  imply  the 
mcihi  hodij  of  those  who  were  able  to  attend,  especially 
when  summoned  thus  solemnly  by  the  direct  voice  of 
Jehovah  Himself.  The  mass  of  these  603,550  men 
ought,  we  must  believe,  to  have  obeyed  such  a  com- 
mand, and  hastened  to  present  themselves  at  the  '  door 
of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation.' 

35.  As  the  text  says  distinctly  '  at  the  door  of  the 
Tabernacle,'  they  must  have  come  within  the  Court. 
And  this,  indeed,  was  necessary  for  the  purpose  for 
which  they  were  summoned  on  this  occasion,  namely, 
to  witness  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration  of  Aaron 


COMI'AKED  WITH   THE   NUMBER    OF   THE    CONGREGATION.     79 

and  liis  sons  to  tlie  Priestly  office.  This  was  to  be  per- 
formed inside  the  Tabernacle  itself,  and  could  only, 
therefore,  be  seen  by  those  standing  at  the  door. 

36.  Now  the  whole  width  of  the  Tabernacle  was  10 
cubits  or  18  feet,  reckoning  the  cubit  at  1-824  ft.  (see 
Bagster'^s  JBihle)^  and  its  length  was  30  cubits  or  54  feet, 
as  may  be  gathered  from  E.  xxvi.  (Horne's  Introd. 
iii.  p.  232.)  Allowing  two  feet  in  Avidth  for  each  full- 
grown  man,  nine  men  could  just  have  stood  in  front  of 
it.  Supposing,  then,  that  '  all  the  Congregation '  of 
adult  males  in  the  prime  of  life  had  given  due  heed  to 
the  Divine  Summons,  and  had  hastened  to  take  their 
stand,  side  by  side,  as  closely  as  possible,  in  front,  not 
merely  of  the  door,  but  of  the  whole  end  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, in  which  the  door  was,  they  would  have  reached, 
allowing  18  inches  between  each  rank  of  nine  men,  for 
a  distance  of  more  than  100,000  feet, — in  fact,  nearly 
twenty  miles  ! 

37.  Further,  the  Court  was  100  cubits  in  length 
and  50  cubits  in  breadth,  E.  xxvii.  18,  that  is,  it  was 
about  180  feet  long  and  90  feet  broad.  And,  since  the 
length  of  the  Tabernacle,  as  above,  was  51:  feet,  we 
have  for  the  space  left  between  the  Tabernacle  and  the 
hangings  of  the  Court,  before  and  behind,  126  feet,  that 
is,  63  feet  in  front  and  63  feet  behind,  or,  perhaps,  we 
may  say,  81  feet  in  front  and  42  feet  behind.  Thus, 
then,  84  feet  would  represent  that  portion  of  the  men 
in  the  prime  of  life,  Avho  could  by  any  possibility  have 
been  crowded  inside  the  Court  in  front  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, while  the  whole  body  would  be  represented  by 
100,000  feet !  Or,  if  we  suppose  them  to  fill  the  whole 
width  of  the  Court,  90  feet,  instead  of  merely  the  space 
directly  in  front  of  the  Tabernacle,  18  feet,  still  the 


80    SIZE  OF  THE  COURT  OF  THE  TABEENACLE,  ETC. 

wliole  body  would  extend  to  a  distance  of  6,706  yards, 
nearly ybwr  miles  ',  whereas  that  portion  of  them,  who 
could  find  any  room  to  stand  in  front  of  the  Tabernacle, 
filling  up  the  whole  wddth  of  the  Court,  would  be  rep- 
resented by  84  feet  or  28  yards  ! 

38.  But  liow  many  would  the  whole  Court  have 
contained  ?  Its  area  (60  yards  by  30  yards)  was  1800 
square  yards,  and  the  area  of  the  Tabernacle  itself  (18 
yards  by  6  yards)  w^as  108  square  yards.  Hence  the 
area  of  the  Court  outside  the  Tabernacle  was  1692 
square  yards.  But  the  '  whole  Congregation '  would 
have  made  a  body  of  people,  nearly  20  miles — or,  more 
accurately,  33,530  yards — long,  and  18  feet  or  6  yards 
wide ;  that  is  to  say,  packed  closely  together,  they 
would  have  covered  an  area  of  201,180  square  yards. 
In  fact,  the  Court,  when  thronged,  could  only  have 
held  6000  people ;  whereas  the  able-bodied  men  alone 
exceeded  600,000.  Even  the  ministering  Levites,  '  from 
thirty  to  fifty  years  old,'  were  8,580  in  number,  N.  iv. 
48  ;  only  50-1  of  these  could  have  stood  within  the 
Court  in  front  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  not  two-thirds  of 
them  could  have  entered  the  Court,  if  they  had  filled 
it  from  one  end  to  the  other.  It  is  inconceivable  how, 
under  such  circumstances,  '  all  the  Assembly,'  the 
'  whole  Congregation,'  could  have  been  summoned  to 
attend  '  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle,'  by  the  express 
command  of  Almighty  God. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

MOSES   AND   JOSHUA   ADDRESSING  ALL   ISEAEL. 

39.  These  he  the  words  ivhich  Hoses  s])ake  unto  all 
Israel.     D.  i.  1. 

And  Moses  called  all  Israel,  and  said  unto  them. 
D.  V.  1. 

And  afterward  he  read  all  the  words  of  the  Law., 
the  blessings  and  the  cursings,  according  to  cdl  that 
which  is  written  in  the  Booh  of  the  Law.  There  was 
not  a  word  of  all  that  Hoses  commanded,  which  Joshua 
read  not  hefore  all  the  Congregation  of  Israel,  with  the 
women,  and  the  little  ones,  and  the  strangers  that  were 
conversant  among  thein.     Jo.  viii.  34,  35. 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  men  in  the  prime  of 

life,  '  above  twenty  years  of  age,'  N.  i.  3,  were  more 

than  600,000  in  nnmber.     We  may  reckon  that  the 

women  in  the  prime  of  life  were  about  as  many,  the 

males  under  twenty  years,  300,000,  the  females  under 

twenty  years,  300,000,  and  the  old  people,  male  and 

female  together,  200,000,  making  the  whole  number 

about  two  millions.    This  number,  which  Kurtz  adopts, 

iii.  jp.  149,  is,  indeed,  a  very  moderate  estimate.     In 

IIorne's  Introd.  iii.  2>-  205,  they  are  reckoned  to  have 

formed  '  an  aggregate  of  upwards  of  three  millions.' 
4* 


82  MOSES    AND   JOSHUA   ADDRESSING   ALL    ISRAEL. 

Kalisch,  Exod.  2)-  ii?  reckons  them  at  2,500,000. 
And  lie  adds,  2>-  160  : — 

a  similar  proportion  is  stated  by  C^sar,  Bell.  Gall.  i.  29,  conccrniug 
the  Helvetii,  who  numbered  92,000  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  whilst 
their  whole  population,  '  including  children,  old  men,  and  women,' 
amounted  to  368,000  souls,  or  exactly  four  times  the  former  number. 

KiTTO  says,  Hist,  of  the  Jews,  p.  174  : — 

As  this  prime  class  of  the  community  (the  able-bodied  men)  is  usually 
in  the  proportion  of  one-fourth  of  the  whole  population,  the  result  would 
give  nearly  two  millions  and  a  half  as  the  number  of  the  posterity  of 
Jacob. 

And  lie  adds,^.  334  : — 

To  the  600,000  men  we  must  allow  an  equal  number  of  females,  mak- 
ing 1,200,000;  and  then  we  must  double  that  number,  to  include  the 
males  and  females  under  twenty  years  of  age,  which  are  generally  found  to 
form  about  one-half  of  any  population.  There  are  circumstances,  which 
show  that  this  estimate  cannot  be  above  the  truth,  and  is  very  probably 
under. 

And  so  also  Bobinson  sajs,  Bihl.  Res.,  i.  j9.  Y4  : — 

The  whole  number,  probably,  amounted  to  two  and  a  half  millions,  and 
certainly  to  not  less  than  two  millions. 

40.  The  Rev,  T.  Scott  remarks  : — 

The  Psalmist  informs  us,  that  '  there  was  not  one  feeble  person  among 
their  tribes.  This  was  a  very  extraordinary  circumstance,  which  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  cannot  parallel.  Yet  it  was  very  suitable  to  the  situation 
of  those,  who  had  sufficient  encumbrances  in  their  march,  without  having 
invalids  to  take  care  of.  It  also  completed  their  triumph  over  Pharaoh  and 
the  Egyptians,  since  they  were  not  constrained  to  leave  one  of  the  company 
behind  them. 

It  would,  indeed,  have  been  an  '  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstance,' and  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  if  a  mixed  community  like  tliis  could  muster 
600,000  men  fit  for  war,  and  yet  not  contain  one  single 
infant,  or  young  child,  or  pregnant  woman,  or  aged 


MOSES   AND  JOSHUA   ADDRESSING   ALL   ISRAEL.  83 

person,  or  invalid !  But,  however  this  may  be,  Scott 
himself  says  (note  on  E.  xii.  37),  '  the  whole  company 
could  not  be  much  less  than  two  millions.'  In  short, 
for  general  purposes,  we  may  fairly  compare  the  whole 
body  of  Israelites,  together  with  the  '  mixed  multitude,' 
E.  xii.  38,  to  the  entire  population  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, which  was  2,362,236,  by  the  census  of  1851,  in- 
creased to  2,803,035,  by  that  of  1861. 

41.  How,  then,  is  it  conceivable  that  a  man  should 
do  what  Joshua  is  here  said  to  have  done,  unless,  in- 
deed, the  reading  every  '  word  of  all  that  Moses  com- 
manded,' with  '  the  blessings  and  cursings,  according 
to  all  that  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  Law,'  was  a 
mere  dumb  show,  without  the  least  idea  of  those  most 
solemn  words  being  heard  by  those  to  whom  they 
were  addressed  ?  For,  surely,  no  himian  voice,  unless 
strengthened  by  a  miracle  of  which  the  Scripture  tells 
us  nothing,  could  have  reached  the  ears  of  a  crowded 
mass  of  people,  as  large  as  the  whole  population  of 
London.  The  very  crying  of  the  '  little  ones,'  who  are 
expressly  stated  to  have  been  present,  must  have  suf- 
ficed to  drown  the  sounds  at  a  few  yards'  distance. 

42.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  only  a  portion  of 
this  great  host  was  really  present,  though  '  all  Israel ' 
is  spoken  of.  And  this  might  have  been  allowed  with- 
out derogating  from  the  general  historical  valne  of  the 
book,  though,  of  course,  not  without  impeaching  the 
literal  accuracy  of  the  Scripture  narrative,  M'hich  by 
some  is  so  strenuously  maintained.  But  the  words 
above  quoted  from  Joshua  are  so  comprehensive,  that 
they  will  not  allow  of  this.  We  must  suppose  that,  at 
least,  the  great  body  of  the  Congregation  was  present, 
and  not  only  present,  but  able  to  hear  the  words  of 


84  MOSES    AND   JOSHUA   ADDRESSING   ALL    ISKAEL. 

awful  moment  wliich  Josliua  addressed  to  them.  Nor 
can  it  be  supposed  tliat  he  read  them  first  to  one  party, 
and  then  to  another,  &c.,  till  '  all  the  Congregation ' 
had  heard  them.  The  day  would  not  have  sufficed  for 
reading  in  this  way  '  all  the  blessings  and  the  cursings ' 
in  D.  xxvii,  xxviii, — much  less  '  all  the  words  of  the 
Law,' — many  times  over,  especially  after  that  he  had 
been  already  engaged,  as  the  story  implies,  on  the  very 
same  day,  in  writing  '  a  copy  of  the  Law  of  Moses ' 
upon  the  stones  set  up  in  Mount  Ebal,  Jo.  viii.  32,  33. 
In  short,  while  it  is  conceivable  that  a  later  writer, 
imagining  such  a  scene  as  this,  may  have  employed 
such  exaggerated  terms  in  describing  it,  it  seems  im- 
possible that  an  actual  eye-vntness,  as  Moses  himself  in 
the  one  instance  or  Joshua  in  the  other,  loith  the  real 
facts  of  the  case  lefore  him^  should  have  expressed 
himself  in  such  extravagant  language. 


CHAPTEE  yi. 

THE   EXTENT   OF   THE   CAMP,  COMPARED  WITH   THE   PEIESt's 
DUTIES  AND  THE  DAILY  NECESSITIES  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

43.  And  the  sMn  of  the  htdlocTc,  and  all  his  flesh, 
with  his  head,  and  with  his  legs,  and  his  inwards, 
and  his  dung,  even  the  whole  hidlocTc,  shall  he  {the 
Priest)  carry  forth  without  the  Camp,  unto  a  dean 
place,  where  the  ashes  are  poured  out,  and  hum  him 
on  the  wood  with  fire.  Where  the  ashes  are  p)0U7'ed 
Old,  there  shall  he  he  hxirnt.     L.  iv.  11,  12. 

"We  have  seen  (39)  that  the  whole  population  of 
Israel  at  the  Exodus  may  be  reckoned  at  two  millions. 
Now  we  cannot  well  allow  for  a  living  man,  with  room 
for  his  cooking,  sleeping,  and  other  necessaries  and  con- 
veniences of  life,  less  than  three  or  four  times  the  space 
required  for  a  dead  one  in  his  grave.  And  even  then 
the  different  ages  and  sexes  would  be  very  disagree- 
ably crowded  together.  Let  us  allow,  however,  for 
each  person  on  the  average  three  times  6  feet  by  2  feet, 
the  size  of  a  coffin  for  a  full-grown  man, — that  is,  let 
us  allow  for  each  person  36  square  feet  or  4  square 
yards.  Then  it  follows  that  for  two  millions  of  peoi^le, 
(without  making  any  allowance  for  the  Tabernacle 
itself,  and  its  Court,  and  the  44,000  Levites,  male  and 


86  EXTENT   OF   THE   CAMP. 

female,  K.  iii.  39,  '  who  pitched  round  about  it,'  N.  i. 
53,)  the  Camp  must  have  covered,  the  people  being 
crowded  as  thickly  as  possible,  an  area  of  8,000,000 
square  yards,  or  more  than  1652  acres  of  ground. 

44.  Upon  this  very  moderate  estimate,  then,  (which 
in  truth  is  far  within  the  mark,)  we  must  imagine  a  vast 
encampment  of  this  extent,  swarming  with  people,  more 
than  a  mile  and  a  half  across  in  each  direction,  with 
the  Tabernacle  in  the  centre ;  and  so  says  Josephus, 
Ant.  iii.  12,  5  : — 

It  was  like  a  well-appointed  market ;  and  everything  was  there  ready 
for  sale  in  due  order  ;  and  all  sorts  of  artificers  were  in  the  shops ;  and  it 
resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  city,  that  sometimes  was  moveable  and 
sometimes  was  fixed. 

Thus  the  refuse  of  these  sacrifices  would  have  had 
to  be  carried  by  the  Priest  himself,  (Aaron,  Eleazar,  or 
Ithamar, — there  were  no  others,)  a  distance  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile.  From  the  ontside  of  this  great 
Camp,  wood  and  water  would  have  had  to  be  fetched 
for  all  purposes,  if,  indeed,  such  supplies  of  wood  or 
water,  for  the  wants  of  such  a  multitude  as  this,  could 
have  been  found  at  all  in  the  v/ilderness, — under  Sinai, 
for  instance,  wdiere  they  are  said  to  have  encamped  for 
nearly  twelve  months  together.  How  much  wood 
would  remain  in  such  a  neighbourhood,  after  a  month's 
consumption  of  the  city  of  London,  even  at  midsum- 
mer ?  And  the  '  ashes'  of  the  whole  Camp,  w^ith  the 
rubbish  and  filth  of  every  kind,  for  a  population  like 
that  of  London,  would  have  had  to  be  carried  out  in 
like  manner,  through  the  midst  of  the  crowded  mass 
of  people.  They  could  not  surely  all  have  gone  out- 
side the  Camp  for  the  necessities  of  nature,  as  com- 
manded in  D.  xxiii.  12-14.     There  were  the  aged  and 


EXTENT   OF   THE   CAMP.  S7 

infirm,  women  in  childbirth,  sick  persons,  and  young 
chikh'en,  who  could  not  have  done  this.  And,  indeed, 
the  command  itself  supposes  the  person  to  have  a 
'  paddle '  upon  his  '  weapon,'  and,  therefore,  must  be 
understood  to  apply  only  to  the  males,  or,  rather,  only 
to  the  600,000  warriors.  But  the  very  fact,  that  this 
direction  for  ensuring  cleanliness, — '  for  Jehovah  thy 
God  walketh  in  the  midst  of  thy  Camp  ;  therefore  shall 
thy  Camp  be  holy  ;  that  He  see  no  unclean  thing  in 
thee,  and  turn  away  from  thee,' — would  have  been  so 
limited  in  its  iipplication,  is  itself  a  very  convincing 
proof  of  the  unhistorical  character  of  the  whole  nar- 
rative. 

45.  But  how  huge  does  this  difficulty  become,  if, 
instead  of  taking  the  excessively  cramped  area  of  1652 
acres,  less  than  three  square  7niles,  for  such  a  Camp  as 
this,  we  take  the  more  reasonable  allowance  of  Scott, 
who  says  '  this  encampment  is  computed  to  have  formed 
a  moveable  city  of  twelve  miles  square^  that  is,  about 
the  size  of  London  itself, — as  it  might  well  be,  consider- 
ing that  the  population  was  as  large  as  that  of  London, 
and  that  in  the  Llebrew  tents  there  were  no  first,  second, 
third,  and  fourth  stories,  no  crowded  garrets  and  under- 
ground cellars.  In  that  case,  the  ofial  of  these  sacri- 
fices would  have  had  to  be  carried  by  Aaron  himself, 
or  one  of  his  sons,  a  distance  of  six  miles ;  and  the 
same  difficulty  would  have  attended  each  of  the  other 
transactions  above-mentioned.  In  fact,  we  have  to 
imagine  the  Priest  having  himself  to  carry,  on  his 
back  on  foot,  from  St.  Paul's  to  the  outskirts  of  the 
Metropolis,  the  '  skin,  and  flesh,  and  head,  and  legs, 
and  inwards,  and  dung,  even  the  whole  bullock,'  and 
the  people  having  to  carry  out  their  rubbish  in  like 


88  EXTENT    OF   THE    CAMP. 

manner,  and  bring  in  their  daily  snpplies  of  water  and 
fuel,  after  first  cutting  down  the  latter  where  thej  could 
find  it !  Further,  we  have  to  imagine  half  a  million 
of  men  going  out  daily — the  22,000  Levites  for  a  dis- 
tance of  six  miles — to  the  suburbs  for  the  common  ne- 
cessities of  nature  !  The  supposition  involves,  of  course, 
an  absurdity.  But  it  is  our  duty  to  look  plain  facts  in 
the  face. 


CHAPTEE   yil. 

THE  NUMBER  OF  THE  PEOPLE  AT  THE  FIRST  MUSTER,  COM- 
PARED WITH  THE  POLL-TAX  RAISED  SIX  MONTHS  PRE- 
VIOUSLY. 

46.  And  Jehovah  sjpake  unto  Moses^  saying^  When 
thou  takest  the  sum  of  the  children  of  Israel  after  their 
numxber^  then  shall  they  give  every  man  a  ransom  for 
his  soul  unto  Jehovah  when  thou  nuinberest  them,  that 
there  he  no  plague  among  them  lohen  thou  numberest 
them.  This  they  shall  give,  every  one  that  passeth 
atnong  them  that  are  numbered,  half  a  shehel  after  the 
shell  el  of  the  Sanctuary  /  an  half  shekel  shall  he  the 
offering  of  Jehovah.    E.  xxx.  11-13. 

"We  may  first  notice  in  passing,  that  the  expression, 
'  shekel  of  the  Sanctuary,'  in  the  above  passage,  could 
hardly  have  been  used  in  this  way  until  there  ^oas  a 
Sanctuary  in  existence,  or,  rather,  until  the  Sanctuary 
had  been  som,e  time  in  existence,  and  such  a  phrase  had 
hQcovLiQ  familiar  in  the  mouths  of  the  people.  Where- 
as here  it  is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Jehovah,  speaking 
to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai,  six  or  seven  months  before 
the  Tabernacle  was  made.  And  in  E.  xxxviii.  24,  25, 
26,  we  have  the  same  phrase  used  again,  of  the  actual 
contributions  of  the  people  towards  the  building  of  the 
Sanctuary. 


90  THE    NUMBER   COMPARED    WITH    THE    POLL-TAX. 

The  LXX,  indeed,  render  the  Hebrew  phrase  by  ro 
hihpa-)(_fiov  TO  w^iov^  '  the  sacred  shekel.'  But  this  can 
hardly  be  the  true  meaning  of  the  original,  ^J^jsri  ^k!^^  ; 
and,  if  it  were,  the  difficulty  would  still  remain,  to  ex- 
plain what  the  '  sacred  shekel '  could  mean,  before  any 
sacred  system  was  established. 

47.  But  these  words  direct  that,  whenever  a  num- 
bering of  the  people  shall  take  place,  each  one  that  is 
numbered  shall  pay  a  '  ransom  for  his  soul,'  of  half  a 
shekel.  Now  in  E.  xxxviii.  26  we  read  of  such  a  trib- 
ute being  paid,  '  a  bekah  for  every  man,  that  is,  half  a 
shekel  after  the  shekel  of  the  Sanctuarj^,  for  every  one 
that  went  to  be  numbered,  from  twenty  years  old  and 
upward,'  that  is,  the  atonement-money  is  collected  ;  but 
nothing  is  there  said  of  any  census  being  taken.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  N.  i.  1-46,  more  than  six  months 
after  the  date  of  the  former  occasion,  we  have  an  ac- 
count of  a  very  formal  numbering  of  the  people,  the 
result  being  given  for  each  particular  tribe,  and  the 
total  number  summed  up  at  the  end  ;  here  the  census 
is  made,  but  there  is  no  indication  of  any  atonement- 
money  being  paid.  The  omission  in  each  case  might 
be  considered,  of  course,  as  accidental,  it  being  sup- 
posed that,  in  the  first  instance,  the  numbering  really 
took  place,  and  in  the  second  the  tribute  was  paid, 
though  neither  circumstance  is  mentioned. 

But  then  it  is  surprising  that  the  number  of  adult 
males  should  have  been  identically  the  same  (603,550) 
on  the  first  occasion,  as  it  was  half  a  year  afterwards. 

48.  KuKTz  remarks  upon  this  matter  as  follows, 
iii.  ]).  20  :— 

There  is  something  strilf  ing  in  the  fact,  that  the  census,  which  was  taken 
now,  gave  precisely  the  same  result  as  the  poll-tax,  which  was  Jevied  at  the 


THE  NUMBER  COMPARED  WITH  THE  POLL-TAX.    91 

commencement  of  the  erection  of  the  Tabernacle  about  half  a  year  before. 
J.  D.  MiciiAELis  solves  the  difficulty  in  the  following  manner :  '  In  E. 
xxxviii,'  he  says,  '  there  is  no  account  of  an  actual  numbering  ;  but  every 
one,  who  was  more  than  twenty  years  old,  paid  his  tax,  and  was  registered 
accordingly.  But  on  the  present  occasion  Moses  received  instructions  to 
arrange  the  lists  and  sum  them  up.  N.  i,  ii.  The  names  had  been  given 
in  before,  though  the  actual  counting  only  took  place  now.  And,  there- 
fore, Moses  did  not  hesitate,  when  recording  the  account  of  the  tax,  to  in- 
sert what  were  afterwards  found  to  be  the  actual  numbers.'  But  there  is 
no  intimation  whatever  of  the  names  being  registered,  when  the  tax  was 
levied,  and  in  itself  it  does  not  appear  to  be  at  all  a  probable  thing.  If  the 
numbers  in  both  instances  are  founded  upon  one  and  the  same  census, 
which  we  also  regard  as  probably  the  case,  we  must  look  for  the  census  in 
question,  not  to  E.  xxxviii,  but  to  N.  i.  We  are  shut  up  to  this  by  the 
solemnity  and  formality,  with  which  the  census  in  N.  i  was  commanded, 
organized,  and  carried  out.  In  E.  xxxviii  we  have  simply  the  raising  of  a 
tax,  and  no  numbering  at  all.  And,  as  the  increase  or  decrease  in  the 
number  of  the  people  must  have  been  very  trifling  in  the  brief  space  of  six 
or  seven  months,  the  result  might  be  employed  without  hesitation,  in  giv- 
ing the  amount  which  the  poll-tax  yielded. 

49.  To  which  we  nmst  reply  as  follows  : — 

(i)  Is  there  any  reasonable  ground  for  supposing  that  the  number  of 
those,  who  contributed  the  silver  for  the  building  of  the  Sanctuary,  would 
not  have  been  noted  and  remembered  as  accurately  as  that  of  those  of 
whom  the  census  was  taken  ? 

(ii)  Why  should  the  amount  of  silver  in  E.  xxxviii.  25  be  less  accurate 
than  that  of  the  gold  in  v.  24,  or  the  brass  in  v.  29  ? 

(iii)  In  fact  the  amount  is  checked,  as  it  were,  and  verified  in  the  case 
of  the  silver,  by  the  same  statement  being  repeated  in  E.  xxxviii  in  three 
different  forms.  In  v.  25  the  sum  of  the  silver  paid  is  reckoned  in  talents 
and  shekels  ;  in  v.  26  the  number  of  men  is  given,  by  whom  it  was  paid  ; 
and  in  v.  21,  28,  the  amount  of  silver  is  again  stated,  the  separate  portions 
being  specified,  which  were  devoted  to  different  purposes. 

(iv)  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  story  in  Exodus  purports  to  be  a 
strictly  accurate  account  of  the  matter,  and  not  merely  a  rough,  or  even  a 
pretty  close,  estimate,  as  Kurtz  supposes. 

(v)  Even  Kurtz  himself  is  obliged  to  give  up  the  notion  of  the  literal 
historical  accuracy  of  both  accounts. 

50.  But  Kurtz  remarks  further  upon  N.  i,  ii,  (ii. 
p.  202.) 


92         THE   KUMBEB    COMPAKED    WITH    THE    POLL-TAX. 

We  are  also  struck  with  the  fact,  that  the  amount  is  given  in  round 
Jmndrcds,  in  the  case  of  every  tribe  excepting  Gad,  and  that  in  this  instance 
the  Jifti/  is  inserted ;  thus  : — 

E  Camn    (  J^fdahj      74,600       -^   ^  ( Ephraim       40,500 

I60,iuu    ^2;e6M/««,   57,400  ^^»,i^^    {Benjamin,     35,400 

c  ^  (  Reuben,    46,500         t..    p,  (  Dan,  62,700 

S- Camp,   3  ^..„^^^„;    59;3oo         N    Camp,  3^^,,^;.  ^^^^^^ 


l^l'^^*^    (6-W,         45;650  l^^'^O^    [Naphtali,      f>i^m 

The  idea  is  hereby  suggested  that  the  numbers  were  taken  by  tens,  if 
not  hyffties.  The  judicial  classification  proposed  by  Jethro,  E.  xviii.  21, 
was  probably  taken  as  the  basis.  In  any  case  we  prefer  the  conjecture, 
that  there  was  some  such  want  of  precision  as  this,  to  the  notion  expressed 
by  Baumgarten,  who  regards  the  fact  that,  in  the  case  of  every  tribe,  the 
result  yielded  such  round  numbers  as  these,  as  a  proof  of  the  special  Provi- 
dence of  God.  In  his  opinion,  since  the  supposition  of  any  such  inaccu- 
racy as  this  is  incompatible  with  the  care  and  completeness,  which  are 
apparent  throughout,  and  as  it  could  not  possibly  apply  to  the  case  of  the 
Levites,  whose  numbers  must  of  necessity  be  given  with  precision,  '  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that,  in  this  natural  neatness  in  the  numbers  of  the  Israel- 
ites, we  have  the  evident  seal  of  the  care,  with  which  the  increase  of  the 
nation  was  superintended  by  Jehovah.' 

61.  To  whicli  also  we  reply  : — 

(i)  If  Baumgarten's  fanciful  reason  were  the  true  one,  it  would  be 
strange  that  the  numbers  do  not  come  out  '  Jieat '  and  complete,  all  in  round 
hundreds  or  even  thousands,  like  the  Levites  (22,000,  N.  iii.  39),  instead 
of  with  an  odd  fifty,  and  still  more  strange  that  the  firstborns  should  amount 
to  the  very  unsightly  number  of  22,273,  N.  iii.  43. 

(ii)  If  they  were  reckoned  by  fifties,  as  Kurtz  supposes,  it  is  still 
strange  that  the  numbers  should  result  in  round  hundreds  for  all  the  tribes 
except  one,  and  that  the  same  phenomenon  should  recur  on  the  second 
numbering,  N.  xxvi. 

(iii)  In  this  second  numbering,  however,  Reuben  is  an  exception  to  the 
general  rule,  and  his  number  is  43,730,  v.  7.  And  that  the  odd  'thirty' 
here  Is  not  a  mere  clerical  error  for  '  fifty,'  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  the 
sum  of  the  numbers  of  all  the  twelve  tribes  is  added  up  here  as  before,  v. 
51,  and  the  sum-total  (601,730)  requires  the  43,730  of  Reuben.  Hence 
Kurtz's  idea  of  the  census  having  been  taken  by  fifties  falls  to  the  ground 
completely. 

(iv)  In  fact,  as  Baumgarten  observes,  the  supposition  of  any  such  in- 
accuracy, as  Kurtz  suggests,  is  absolutely  incompatible,  not  only  with  the 


THE   NUMBER   COMPARED    WITH   THE    POLL-TAX.  93 

'  care  and  completeness'  with  which  the  census  was  taken,  and  the  exact- 
ness required  in  the  case  of  the  Levites,  but  above  all  with  the  fact  that, 
not  for  every  ten  ov  fifty,  but  for  evcrij  individual,  a  '  ransom  for  his  soul' 
was  to  be  paid  at  any  such  numbering. 

62,  Haveknick  explains  the  matter  tlius,  Pent.  f. 
306:— 

The  census  in  the  first  year  was  required  in  order  to  levy  the  impost 
for  the  erection  of  the  Tabernacle ;  the  other,  to  decide  the  order  of  the 
encampment  and  march.  The  latter  object  did  not  require  a  census  prop- 
erly so  called.  All  that  was  necessary  was,  to  have  a  review  of  the  tribes ; 
and,  as  the/ojvner  census  was  made  the  basis,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  only 
a  review  of  the  numbers  of  each  tribe  that  was  designed.  It  is  clear  from 
the  text  itself  that  this  is  no  arbitrary  opinion.  Prominent  expression  is 
here  given  to  the  fact  that  the  new  numbering  was  made  *  after  their  fam- 
ilies, by  the  house  of  their  fathers,'  N.  i.  2,  18.  This  was  the  only  neces- 
sary addition  to  the  first  numbering.  But,  that  the  latter  was  made  use 
of,  is  both  probable  in  itself,  and  is  confirmed  by  the  agreement  of  the  sum 
total  in  each  (!). 

Ans.  We  can  only  say,  with  Kurtz  (48),  If  the  numbers  in  both  in- 
stances are  founded  upon  one  and  the  same  census,  we  must  look  for  the 
census  in  question,  not  to  E.  xxxviii,  but  to  N.  i.  Is  it  conceivable  that, 
\{ each  individual  was  now  required  to  'declare  his  pedigree,'  N.  i.  18,  the 
number  of  the  whole  body  of  each  tribe  should  yet  have  been  taken  from 
the  former  census  ? 

As  to  the  '  round  numbers,'  Haveenick  says,  Pent. 
p.  307, 

Detail  was  here  regarded  as  being  not  so  important ;  a  general  compu- 
tation of  the  whole  was  all  that  was  proposed,  and,  therefore,  Moses  gives 
the  more  exact  number  only  where  something  depends  upon  it ;  see  N. 
iii.  39,  43. 

Ans.  As  before,  if  the  pedigree  of  each  individual  was  registered,  it  is 
plain  that  the  sum-total  of  each  tribe  must  have  been  taken  at  the  second 
census,  and  that  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  is  a  '  round  nxxmber,'  22,000,  N.  iii. 
39,  like  the  rest. 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

THE  ISEAELITES   DWELLING   IN   TENTS. 

53.  Take  ye  every  man  for  them  which  are  in  his 
tents.     E.  xvi,  16. 

Here  we  find  that,  immediately  after  their  coming 
out  of  Egypt,  the  people  were  provided  with  t€7its^ — 
cumbrous  articles  to  have  been  carried,  when  they  fled 
out  in  haste,  '  taking  their  dough  before  it  was  leav- 
ened, their  kneading-troughs  being  bound  up  in  their 
clothes  upon  their  shoulders,'  E.  xii.  34.  It  is  true,  this 
statement  conflicts  strangely  with  that  in  L.  xxiii.  42, 
43,  where  it  is  assigned  as  a  reason  for  their  '  dwelling 
in  booths  '  for  seven  days  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles, 
'  that  your  generations  may  know  that  I  made  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  to  dwell  in  hooths,  when  I  brought  them 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.'  It  cannot  be  said  that  the 
word  '  booths '  here  means  '  tents ' ;  because  the  Hebrew 
word  for  a  hooth,  made  of  boughs  and  bushes,  nso, 
which  is  the  word  here  used,  is  quite  diff'erent  from 
that  for  a  tent^  bni*,  used  in  E.  xvi.  16.  And,  besides, 
in  the  context  of  the  passage  in  Leviticus,  we  have  a 
description  of  the  way  in  which  these  booths  were  to 
be  made.  '  Ye  shall  take  you  the  boughs  of  goodly 
trees,  branches  of  palm-trees,  and  the  boughs  of  thick 


THE    ISRAELITES    DWELLING    IN   TENTS.  95 

trees,  and  willows  of  the  brook,'  v.  40,  This  seems  to 
fix  the  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  word  in  this  particular 
passage,  and  to  show  that  it  is  used  in  its  proper  sense 
of  '  booths ' ;  though  in  2  S.  xi.  11,  and  one  or  two 
other  places,  it  is  also  used  improperly  for  '  tents.' 

54.  There  is  not,  however,  the  slightest  indication 
in  the  story  that  they  ever  did  live  in  booths,  nor  is  it 
conceivable  when  they  could  have  done  so.  It  is  true, 
we  are  told  that,  on  the  first  day,  when  they  went  out 
of  Egypt,  they  'journeyed  from  Kameses  to  Succoth,^ 
E.  xii.  37,  where  the  name  Succoth  means  '  booths.' 
But  it  cannot  surely  be  supposed  that,  in  the  hurry  and 
confusion  of  this  flight,  they  had  time  to  cut  down 
'  boughs  and  bushes '  to  make  booths  of,  if  even  there 
were  trees  from  which  to  cut  them.  It  has,  indeed, 
been  suggested,  that  in  L.  xxiii.  43,  it  should  be  trans- 
lated, '  that  your  generations  may  know  that  I  made 
the  children  of  Israel  to  dwell  in  Succoth^  when  I 
brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egpyt,' — as  if  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  commemorated  the  transition 
stage  from  the  Egyptian  to  the  wilderness  life,  when 
they  had  left  houses,  but  had  not  yet  come  to  live  in 
hair  or  skin  tents.  I  cannot  say  that  this  explanation 
satisfies  my  own  mind.  Tliey  did  not,  surely,  dwell 
in  Succoth,  E.  xii.  37,  xiii.  20.  But,  however  this  may 
be,  we  are  required  to  believe  that  they  had  tents,  at 
all  events,  as  these  are  repeatedly  mentioned  ;  whereas 
booths  are  only  spoken  of  in  this  siugle  passage  of  the 
book  of  Leviticus. 

55.  ISTow,  allowing  ten  persons  for  each  tent,  (and 
decency  would  surely  require  that  there  should  not  be 
more  than  this, — a  Zulu  hut  in  Natal  contains  on  an 
average  only  three  and  a  half^) — two  millions  of  people 


96  THE    ISRAELITES    DWELLING   IN   TENTS. 

would  require  200,000  tents.  How  then  did  they  ac- 
quire these  ?  Had  they  provided  this  enormous  num- 
ber in  expectation  of  marching,  when  all  their  request 
was  to  be  allowed  to  go  '  for  three  daj^s  into  the  wilder- 
ness,' E.  V.  3  ?  For  they  were  not  living  in  tents  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  as  we  gather  from  the  fact  that  they 
were  to  take  of  the  blood  of  the  paschal  lamb,  and 
'  strike  it  on  the  tioo-side  posts,  and  on  the  lintel  or  iq)- 
j)er  door-jjost^  of  their  houses,  E.  xii.  7,  and  none  of 
them  was  to  '  go  out  at  the  door  of  his  house  until  the 
morning,'  v.  22. 

56.  But,  further,  if  they  had  had  these  tents,  how 
could  they  have  carried  them  ?  They  could  not  have 
borne  them  on  thoir  shoulders,  since  these  were  already 
occupied  with  other  burdens.  And  these  burdens 
themselves  were  by  no  means  insignificant.  For,  be- 
sides their  '  kneading-troughs,'  with  the  dough  unleav- 
ened, '  bound  up  in  their  clothes  upon  their  shoulders,' 
as  well  as  all  other  necessaries  for  daily  domestic  use,  for 
sleeping,  cooking,  &c.,  there  were  the  infants  and 
young  children,  who  could  scarcely  have  gone  on  foot 
twenty  miles  a  day  as  the  story  requires  ;  there  were 
the  aged  and  infirm  persons,  Avho  must  have  likewise 
needed  assistance  ;  they  must  have  carried  also  those 
goods  of  various  kinds,  which  they  brought  out  of  their 
treasures  so  plentifully  for  the  making  of  the  Taber- 
nacle ;  and,  above  all  this,  they  must  have  tciken  with 
them  grain  or  flour  enough  for  at  least  a  montlvs  use, 
since  they  had  no  manna  given  to  them  till  they  came 
into  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  '  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
second  month  after  their  departing  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,'  E.  xvi.  1. 

57.  There  were  the  cattle  certainly,  which  might 


THE   ISRAELITES   DWELLING    IN   TENTS.  97 

have  been  turned  to  some  account  for  this  purpose,  if 
trained  to  act  as  pack-oxen.  But  then,  what  a  pro- 
digious number  of  trained  oxen  would  have  been  need- 
ed to  carry  these  200,000  tents  !  One  ox  will  carry  120 
lbs.,  and  a  canvas  tent,  '  that  will  hold  tiao  jjeople  and 
a  fair  quantity  of  luggage,'  weighs  from  25  to  40  lbs. 
(G Alton's  Art  of  Travel^  pp.  33,  177).  Of  such  tents 
as  the  above,  with  poles,  pegs,  &c.,  a  single  ox  might, 
possibly,  carry ybi^r,  and  even  this  would  require  50,000 
oxen.  But  these  would  be  of  the  lightest  modern 
material,  whereas  the  Hebrew  tents,  we  must  suppose, 
were  made  of  hair,  E.  xxvi.  7,  xxxvi.  14,  or,  rather,  of 
shin,  E.  xxvi.  14,  xxxvi.  19,  and  were,  therefore,  of 
course,  much  heavier.  Besides  this,  these  latter  were 
family  tents,  not  made  merely  for  soldiers  or  travellers, 
and  required  to  be  very  much  larger  for  purposes  of 
common  decency  and  convenience.  One  ox,  perhaps, 
might  have  carried  one  such  a  tent,  large  enough  to 
accommodate  ten  persons,  with  its  apparatus  of  pole 
and  cords  :  and  thus  they  would  have  needed  for  this 
purpose  200,000  oxen.  But  oxen  are  not  usually  trained 
to  carry  goods  upon  their  backs  as  pack-oxen,  and  will 
by  no  means  do  so,  if  untrained. 


CHAPTEK  IX. 


THE    ISRAELITES   ARMED. 


58.  The  children  of  Israel  went  up  harnessed  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt.     E.  xiii.  18. 

The  word  niiuon^  which  is  here  rendered  '  harnessed,' 
appears  to  mean  '  armed '  or  '  in  battle  array,'  in  all  the 
other  passages  where  it  occurs.  Thus,  Jo.  i.  14,  '  But 
ye  shall  pass  before  your  brethren  ar^ined,  all  the 
mighty  men  of  valour,  and  help  them,'  So,  Jo.  iv.  12, 
'  And  the  children  of  Reuben,  and  the  children  of  Gad, 
and  half  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  passed  over  armed  be- 
fore the  children  of  Israel,  as  Moses  spake  unto  them.' 
And,  Ju.  vii.  11,  '  Then  went  he  down,  with  Phurah  his 
servant,  unto  the  outside  of  the  armed  men  that  were  in 
the  host.'  It  is  possible  also  that  the  Hebrew  word  Qirn, 
which  occurs  in  N.  xxxii.  17,  and  is  rendered  '  armed ' 
in  the  English  Yersion,  but  which  Gesenkts  derives 
from  tim,  '  to  make  haste,'  and  renders  '  hastening '  or 
'  in  haste,'  may  be  also  a  corruption  from  ci-'tijari,  by 
the  accidental  omission  of  a  letter. 

59.  It  is,  however,  inconceivable  that  these  down- 
trodden, oppressed  people  should  have  been  allowed 
by  Pharaoh  to  possess  arms,  so  as  to  turn  out  at  a 
moment's    notice    600,000   armed    men.      If   such   a 


THE    ISRAELITES    ARMED.  99 

mighty  host, — nearly  nine  times  as  great  as  the  whole 
of  Wellington's  army  at  AVaterloo,  (69,686  men,  Ali- 
son's History  of  Europe^  xix.  p.  401), — had  had  arms 
in  their  hands,  would  they  not  have  risen  long  ago  for 
their  liberty,  or,  at  all  events,  would  there  have  been 
no  danger  of  their  rising?  Besides,  the  warriors 
formed  a  distinct  caste  in  Egypt,  as  Herodotus  tells  us, 
ii.  165,  '  being  in  number,  when  they  are  most  numer- 
ous, 160,000,  none  of  whom  learn  any  mechanical  art, 
but  apply  themselves  wholly  to  military  aifairs.'  Are 
we  to  suppose,  then,  that  the  Israelites  acquired  their 
arms  by  '  borrowing '  on  the  night  of  the  Exodus  ? 
Nothing  whatever  is  said  of  this,  and  the  idea  itself  is 
an  extravagant  one.  But,  if  even  in  this,  or  any  other 
way  they  had  come  to  be  possessed  of  arms,  is  it 
conceivable  that  600,000  armed  men,  in  the  prime  of 
life,  would  have  cried  out  in  panic  terror,  '  sore  afraid,' 
E.  xiv.  10,  when  they  saw  that  they  were  being 
pursued  ? 

60.  The  difficulty  of  believing  this  has  led  many 
commentators  to  endeavour  to  explain  otherwise,  if  pos- 
sible, the  meaning  of  the  word.  Accordingly,  in  the 
margin  of  the  English  Bible  we  find  suggested,  instead 
of  '  harnessed  '  or  '  armed,'  in  all  the  above  passages 
except  Jo.  iv.  12,  '  by  five  in  a  rank,'  because  the  He- 
brew word  n'^'^J^n  has  a  resemblance  to  i:J^n,  '  five.' 
And  others  again  explain  it  to  mean  '  by  fifties,'  as  the 
five  thousand  were  arranged  in  the  wilderness  of  Beth- 
saida,  Mark  vi.  40. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once,  however,  that  these  mean- 
ings of  the  word  will  not  at  all  suit  the  other  passages 
quoted  in  (58).  And,  indeed,  by  adopting  the  first  of 
them,  we  should  only  get  rid  of  one  difficulty  to  intro- 


100  THE   ISRAELITES   ARMED. 

duce  another  quite  as  formidable.  For,  if  600,000  men 
marched  out  of  Egypt  '  five  in  a  rank,'  allowing  a  yard 
for  marching  room  between  each  rank,  they  must  have 
formed  a  column  68  miles  long,  and  it  would  have 
taken  several  days  to  have  started  them  all  off,  instead 
of  their  going  out  all  together  '  that  self-same  day,'  E. 
xii.  41,  42,  51.  On  the  second  supposition,  they  might 
have  formed  a  column  seven  miles  long,  which  was  cer- 
tainly possible  in  the  open,  undulating  desert  between 
Cairo  and  Suez.  But  it  cannot  surely  be  supposed 
that  the  strong,  able-bodied  men  ke})t  regular  ranks, 
as  if  marching  for  war,  when  they  were  only  hasting 
out  of  Egypt,  and  when  their  services  must  have  been 
so  niuch  required  for  the  assistance  of  the  weaker  mem- 
bers of  their  families,  the  women  and  children,  the  sick, 
infirm,  and  aged. 

61.  It  might  be  thought,  indeed,  that  the  Hebrew 
word  may  have  been  used  originally  of  warriors,  with 
reference  to  their  marching  in  ranks  of  five  or  fifty,  but 
may  here  be  used  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  to  express 
the  idea  that  they  went  out  of  Egypt  '  with  a  high 
hand,'  E.  xiv.  8,  in  a  spirited  and  orderly  manner,  not 
as  a  mere  hurrying,  confused  rabble.  Accordingly, 
Scott  writes — 

The  margin  intimates  that  the  word  translated  harnessed  may  signify  by 
five  in  a  rank.  But  the  room,  which  such  a  multitude  must  have  taken 
from  the  van  to  the  rear,  is  immense,  had  they  marched  in  this  manner,  as 
there  would  have  been  120,000  lines  of  five  men  each,  besides  women  and 
children.  It  seems  rather  to  mean  that  they  marched  in  five  distinct  squad- 
rons, or,  in  general,  that  though  unarmed,  they  journeyed  in  regular  order, 
and  not  as  a  disorderly  multitude. 

But,  as  before  observed,  neither  of  these  meanings 
will  suit  the  passages  quoted  in  (58).  And,  besides,  if 
they  did  not  take  it  with  them  out  of  Egypt,  where  did 


THE   ISRAELITES    AKMED.  101 

thej  get  the  armour,  witli  -wliicli,  about  a  montli  after- 
wards, they  fought  the  Amalekites,  E.  xvii.  8-13,  and 
'  discomfited  them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  '  ?  It 
may,  perhaps,  be  said  that  they  had  stripped  the  Egyp- 
tians, whom  they  '  saw  lying  dead  upon  tlie  seashore,' 
E.  xiv.  30.     And  so  writes  Josephus,  A^it.  ii.  16.  6  : — • 

On  the  next  day,  Moses  gathered  together  the  weapons  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, which  were  brought  to  the  camp  of  the  Hebrews  by  the  current  of 
the  sea  and  the  force  of  the  winds  assisting  it.  And  he  conjectured  that 
this  also  happened  by  Divine  Providence,  that  so  they  might  not  be  desti- 
tute of  weapons. 

It  is  plain  that  Josephus  had  perceived  the  diffi- 
culty. The  Bible-story,  however,  says  nothing  about 
this  stripping  of  the  dead,  as  surely  it  must  have  done, 
if  it  really  took  place.  And,  though  body-armour 
might  have  been  obtained  in  this  way,  would  swords, 
and  spears,  and  shields,  in  any  number,  have  been 
washed  ujjon  the  shore  by  the  waves,  or  have  been  re- 
tained, still  grasped  in  the  hands  of  drowning  men  ? 

62.  If,  indeed,  this  were  the  ojihj  difficulty  in  the 
story  of  the  Exodus,  viz.  to  account  for  the  Israelites 
possessing  a  sufficient  number  of  arms  for  their  first 
fight,  some  such  a  solution  of  it  as  the  above  (by  sup- 
posing that  they  stripped  the  corpses  of  the  Egyptians) 
might  be  admitted  as  being  within  the  range  of  possi- 
bility, however  far-fetched  it  must  seem,  more  espe- 
cially when  the  narrative  itself  is  altogether  silent  upon 
the  subject.  But  this,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  only 
one  of  many  such  difficulties.  And  even  this  su])posi- 
tion  will  not  do  away  with  the  fact,  that  the  stubborn 
word  c-'drn  exists  in  the  text  before  us.  Besides,  we 
must  suppose  that  the  whole  hocly  of  600,000  M'arriors 
were  armed,  wlien  they  were  numbered,  N.  i.  3,  under 


102  THE    ISRAELITES    AEMED. 

Sinai.  Tliey  possessed  arms,  surely,  at  that  time,  ac- 
cording to  the  story.  How  did  they  get  them,  unless 
they  took  them  out  of  Egpyt  ? 

63.  If,  then,  the  historical  veracity  of  this  part  of 
the  Pentateuch  is  to  be  maintained,  we  must  believe 
that  600,000  armed  men,  (though  it  is  inconceivable 
how  they  obtained  their  arms,)  had,  by  reason  of  their 
long  servitude,  become  so  debased  and  inhuman  in 
their  cowardice,  (and  yet  they  fought  bravely  enough 
with  Amalek  a  month  afterwards,)  that  they  could  not 
strike  a  single  blow  for  their  wives  and  children,  if  not 
for  their  own  lives  and  liberties,  but  could  only  weakly 
wail,  and  murmur  against  Moses,  saying,  '  It  had  been 
better  for  us  to  serve  the  Egyptians,  than  that  we 
should  die  in  the  wilderness,'  E.  xiv.  12. 

And  so,  indeed,  Kaliscii  writes,  with  what  appear- 
ance of  reason  let  the  reader  determine,  Exod.  ;p. 
185:— 

As  faint  reminiscences,  and  fluctuating  traditions  from  past  centuries, 
were  tlie  only  bonds  by  which  the  vast  numbers  of  the  Israelites  were  feebly 
connected, — as,  further,  the  tyrannical  measures  of  the  Pharaohs  had  per- 
fectly attained  their  aim  in  making  the  Israelites  indifferent  and  deadened 
to  all  higher  interests,  for  this  large  population  did  not  even  attempt  to  re- 
volt against  their  oppressors, — and  as  political  independence  was  an  idea, 
which  they  had  neither  inherited  from  their  ancestors,  nor  had  themselves 
practically  acquired, — the  miraculous  interposition  of  God,  which,  working 
through  the  agency  of  Moses,  had  effected  their  release,  [by  a  succession  of 
stupendous  miracles  which  they  had  just  witnessed,  and  the  last  and  most 
awful  of  which  had  been  wrought  on  their  behalf  only  the  day  before  yes- 
terday !  ]  had  only  silenced,  not  extirpated,  their  doubts  and  their  reluc- 
tance. And  now,  when  they  saw  themselves  in  a  dreary  and  trackless 
wilderness,  in  which  they  must,  even  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances, expect  all  the  horrors  of  famine,  and  when  to  complete  their  con- 
sternation they  beheld  their  mortal  enemies  wrathfully  follow  behind 
them,  and  the  foaming  sea  wildly  rage  before  them,  was  it  not  natural  that 
the  people,  forgetting  a  feeling  of  honour,  which  had  as  yet  taken  no  root  in 
their  minds,  wished  longingly  to  return  to  the  old  yoke  of  servitude,  to  the 


THE    ISRAELITES    AKMED.  103 

miseries  and  humiliations  of  wlaicti  long  habit  had  almost  reconciled  them, 
and  in  which  their  daily  wants  were,  at  least,  tolerably  provided  for  ? 

64.  Kurtz   comments    on   the    above    passage    as 
follows : — 

'  According  to  E.  xiii.  18,  the  children  of  Israel  departed  from  Egypt 
D"^C«n.  The  Septuagint  rendering  is  '  in  the  fifth  generation.'  Cleri- 
cus  explains  it  in  the  same  manner,  with  special  reference  to  G.  xv.  16, 
'  in  the  fourth  generation  they  shall  come  hither  again,'  and  to  E.  vi.  16-20, 
[where  the  generation  of  Moses  and  Aaron  is  given,  Jacob,  Levi,  Kohath, 
Amram,  Moses  and  Aaron,  so  that  the  next  generation,  that  of  Eleazar, 
Joshua,  &c.,  the  generation  in  the  prime  of  life  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus, 
was  the  fifth  in  descent  from  Jacob].  Fuller  also  adheres  firmly  to  the 
derivation  of  the  word  from  '^'>t^,five.  But  he  renders  it  by  irejUTTToSes, 
and  supposes  it  to  mean  that  they  were  drawn  up  in  five  columns. 

'  But  neither  of  these  renderings  corresponds  to  the  sense  in  which  the 
word  is  used  in  other  places.  In  N.  xxxii.  SO,  32,  and  in  D.  iii.  18,  the  very 
same  men  who  are  called  CC^jn  iu  Jo.  i.  14,  vi.  12,  are  described  as 
C^^lbn.,  accincti,  expediii  ad  iter  s.  ad prcelium.  The  Vulgate  translates 
it  armati ;  Aquila,  oivMafiivoi ;  Symmaciius,  Ka6anr\i(r/j.fvoi.  A  more 
suitable  rendering  of  the  passages  cited  would  be  '  equipped  for  battle,' 
'  in  battle  array,'  which  certainly  includes  the  notion  of  being  armed.  The 
etymology  is  doubtful.  Gesenius  refers  it  to  the  cognate  roots,  ^'Sn,  acer 
flit,  D^n,  violenter  egit,  oppressit,  and  to  the  kindred  word  in  Arabic, 
which  means  acer,  stremms  fuit  in  pralio. 

'  It  has  been  objected  to  our  explanation  that  the  Israelites  went  away 
unarmed.  But  this  is  nowhere  stated ;  and  the  panic,  which  seized  them 
afterwards,  does  not  prove  that  they  were  not  armed.  On  the  contrary,  we 
read  shortly  afterwards  of  their  fighting  a  regular  battle  with  the  Amalek- 
ites.  There  could  have  been  no  reason  whatever  for  dividing  the  people 
into  five  companies.  The  Septuagint  rendering  has  still  less  to  recom- 
mend it ;  because  there  is  no  ground  for  the  assumption,  that  Moses  was 
the  fifth  [rather  fourth]  in  order  of  descent  from  Jacob.' 

Ans.  It  will  be  seen  hereafter  that  Kurtz's  reason  for  objecting  to  the 
LXX  rendering  has  no  validity.  It  is  sufficient,  however,  to  say,  that  both 
this  and  the  other  rendering,  which  he  justly  rejects,  are  inadmissible  in 
the  other  passages  where  the  word  is  used. 

'  But  the  rendering,  '  equipped  for  battle,'  or  '  in  battle  array,'  fur- 
nishes a  good,  appropriate,  and  very  significant  meaning.     This  was  a  ne- 


104  THE   ISRAELITES   AitMED. 

cessary  part  of  the  triumphant  and  jubilant  attitude,  in  which  Israel  was  to 
depart  from  Egypt.' 

Ans.  This  is,  no  doubt,  true.  But  it  involves  the  extreme  improba- 
bility of  the  Israelites  being  possessed  of  these  arms  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
as  well  as  that  of  their  acting  in  the  way  in  which  they  are  said  to  have 
acted,  if  they  really  did  possess  them. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   INSTITUTION    OF   THE   PASSOVER. 

65.  Thtn  Moses  called  for  all  t/ie  eldars  of  Israel^ 
and  said  unto  them,  Draw  out  now,  and  take  you  a 
larab  according  to  your  families,  and  hill  the  Pass- 
over. And  ye  shall  take  a  huoich  of  hyssop,  and  dip 
it  in  the  hlood  that  is  in  the  hason,  and  strike  the  lintel 
and  the  two  side-posts  with  the  hlood  that  is  in  the  ha- 
son •  and  none  of  you  shall  go  out  at  the  door  of  his 
house  till  the  morning.  .  .  .  And  the  children  of 
Israel  went  away,  and  did  as  Jehovah  had  commanded 
Moses  and  Aaron :  so  did  they.     E.  xii.  21-28. 

That  is  to  say,  in  one  single  day,  the  whole  immense 
population  of  Israel,  as  large  as  that  of  London,  was 
instructed  to  keep  the  Passover,  and  actually  did  keep 
it.  I  have  said  '  in  one  single  day '  ;  for  the  first  notice 
of  any  such  Feast  to  be  kept  is  given  in  this  very  chap- 
ter, where  we  tind  it  written,  v.  12,  '  I  will  pass  through 
the  land  of  Egypt  this  night,  and  will  smite  all  the 
first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  both  man  and  beast.' 

It  cannot  be  said  tliat  they  had  notice  several  days 
beforehand,  for  they  were  to  ''take''  the  lamb  on  the 
tenth  day  of  the  month,  and  ^kilV  it  on  the  fourteenth, 
v.  3,  C,  and  so  v.  12  only  means  to  say  'on  that  night — 


106  THE    INSTITUTION    OF   THE    PASSOVER. 

tlie  iiiglit  of  the  fonrteenth — I  will  pass  tliroiiirh  the 
land  of  Egypt.'  For  the  expression  in  v.  12  is  dis- 
tinctly n-tn,  '  ihis^''  not  Ksinn,  '  that,'  as  in  xiii.  8  ;  and  so 
V.  14,  '  tJiis  day  shall  be  unto  you  for  a  memorial ; '  and, 
besides,  in  the  chapter  preceding,  xi.  4,  we  read,  '  And 
Moses  said  [to  Pharaoh],  Thus  saitli  Jehovah,  ahoid 
tnidnujld  will  I  go  out  into  the  midst  of  Egypt,  and 
all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt  shall  die,'  where 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  '  midnight '  then  next  at 
hand  is  intended.  It  is  true  that  the  story,  as  it  now 
stands,  with  the  directions  about  '  taking '  the  lamb  on 
the  tenth  day,  and  '  keeping '  it  till  the  fourteenth,  are 
perplexing  and  contradictory.  But  this  is  only  one  of 
many  similar  phenomena,  which  will  have  to  be  con- 
sidered more  closely  liereafter. 

Let  us  now  see  what  the  above  statement  really  im- 
plies, when  translated  into  simple  every-day  matter  of 
fact. 

^'o.  '  Moses  called  for  all  the  elders  of  Israel.'  AYe 
must  suppose,  then,  that  the  '  elders '  lived  somewhere 
near  at  hand.  But  where  did  the  two  millions  live  ? 
And  how  could  the  order,  to  keep  the  Passover,  have 
been  conveyed,  with  its  minutest  particulars,  to  each 
individual  household  in  this  vast  community,  in  one 
day, — rather,  in  twelve  hours,  since  Moses  received  the 
command  on  the  very  same  day,  on  which  they  were 
to  kill  the  Passover  at  even,  E.  xii.  6  ? 

It  must  be  observed  that  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  the  notice  should  be  distinctly  given  to  each 
separate  family.  For  it  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death. 
Upon  the  due  performance  of  the  Divine  command  it 
depended  whether  Jehovah  should  '  stride  across '  (nos) 
the  threshold,  (see  Is.  xxxi.  5,)  and  protect  the  house 


THE   mSTITUTION    OF   THE    PASSOVEK.  luT 

from  the  angel  of  death,  or  not.  And  yet  the  whole 
matter  was  perfectly  new  to  them.  The  specific  direc- 
tions,— about  choosing  the  lamb,  killing  it  at  even, 
sprinkling  its  blood,  and  eating  it,  with  nnleavened 
bread,  'not  raw,  nor  sodden  at  all  with  water,  but  roast 
with  fire,'  '  with  their  loins  girded,  their  shoes  on  their 
feet,  and  their  staff  in  their  hand ' — were  now  for  the 
first  time  communicated  to  Moses,  by  liim  to  the  elders, 
and  by  them  to  the  people.  These  directions,  therefore, 
could  not  have  been  conveyed  by  any  mere  sign,  inti- 
mating that  they  were  now  to  carry  into  execution 
something  about  which  they  had  been  informed  before. 
They  must  be  plainly  and  fully  delivered  to  each  indi- 
vidual head  of  a  family,  or  to  a  number  of  them  gath- 
ered together  ;  though  these,  of  course,  might  be 
ordered  to  assist  in  spreading  the  intelligence  to  others, 
but  so  that  no  single  household  should  be  left  unin- 
formed upon  the  matter. 

67.  This  would,  of  course,  be  done  most  easily,  if 
we  could  suppose  that  the  whole  Hebrew  community 
lived  as  closely  together  as  possible,  in  one  great  city. 
In  that  case,  we  should  have  to  imagine  a  message  of 
this  nature,  upon  which  life  and  death  depended,  con- 
veyed, without  fail,  to  every  single  family  in  a  popula- 
tion as  large  as  that  of  London,  between  sunrise  and 
sunset, — and  that,  too,  without  their  having  had  any 
previous  notice  whatever  on  the  subject,  and  without 
any  preparations  having  been  made  beforehand  to  facili- 
tate such  a  communication. 

68.  Further,  we  are  told  that  '  every  woman  was  to 
borrow  of  her  neighbour,  and  of  her  that  sojourned  in 
her  house,  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of  gold,  and  rai- 
ment,' E.  iii.  22.     From  this  it  would  seem  to  follow 


108  THE    INSTITUTION    OF   THE    PASSOVKK. 

that  the  Hebrews  were  regarded  as  living  in  the  midst 
of  the  Egyptians,  mixed  up  freely  with  them  iii  their 
dwellings.  And  this  appears  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
statement,  E.  xii.  35,  36,  that,  wdien  suddenly  sum- 
moned to  depart,  they  hastened,  at  a  moment's  notice, 
to  '  borrow '  in  all  directions  from  the  Egyptians,  and 
collected  such  a  vast  amount  of  treasure,  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time,  that  they  '  spoiled  the  Egyptians.' 
And,  indeed,  it  would  seem  only  natural  that  those 
among  the  Egyj)tians  who  did  not  sympathise  with  the 
mad  folly  of  their  king,  and  had  all  along  a  friendly- 
feeling,  and  by  this  time  also  a  deep  respect,  for  Israel, 
should  have  taken  refuge  in  the  Hebrew  dwellings,  and 
sought  immunity  in  this  way  from  the  plagues  which 
ravaged  the  laud.  And  so  writes  Hengstenbekg,  i. 
409  :— 

The  Israelites  dwelt  in  houses,  and  intermixed  with  Egyptians,  so  that 
the  destroying  angel  would  pass  by  one  door  and  stop  at  another.  They 
lived  with  the  Egyptians,  with  whom,  in  part,  they  stood  on  most  friendly 
terms,  in  cities.  According  to  E.  iii.  20-22,  it  was  not  unfrequently  the 
case,  that  Egyptian  lodgers  dwelt  with  an  Israelitish  householder,  and  those 
persons  of  good  property,  so  that  they  could  give  from  abundance  gold  and 
silver  ornaments  and  clothes. 

Gd.  But  tlie  supposition  of  tlieir  borrowing  in  this 
way,  even  if  they  lived  in  sucli  a  city,  involves  prodi- 
gious difficulties.  For  the  city,  in  that  case,  could  have 
been  no  other  than  liameses  itself,  from  which  they 
started,  E.  xii.  37,  a  '  treasure-city,'  which  they  had 
'built  for  Pharaoh,'  E.  i.  11 — doubtless,  therefore,  a 
well-built  city,  not  a  mere  collection  of  mud-hovels. 
And  so  the  story,  in  E.  ii.  5,  of  the  daughter  of  Pha- 
raoh going  down  to  bathe  in  the  Nile,  in  the  immediate 
proximity  of  the  place  w^liere  Moses  was  born,  implies 
that  his  parents,  at  all  events,  lived  not  far  I'rom  the 


THE    INSTITUTION    OF   THE    PASSOVER.  109 

royal  residence.  But,  if  the  Israelites  lived  in  such  a 
city  together  %vith  the  Egyptians,  it  must  have  been 
even  larger  than  London,  and  the  difficulty  of  coinniu- 
nicution  would  have  been  thereby  greatly  increased. 
For  Avo  cannot  suppose  that  the  humble  dwellings  of 
tliese  despised  slaves  Avere  in  closest  contiguity  with  the 
mansions  of  their  masters.  And,  in  fact,  several  of  the 
miracles,  especially  that  of  the  '  thick  darkness,'  imply 
that  the  abodes  of  the  Hebrews  were  wholly  apart  from 
those  of  the  Egyptians,  however  difficult  it  may  be  to 
conceive  how,  under  such  circumstances,  each  woman 
could  have  borrowed  from  her  that  '  sojourned  in  her 
house.'  Thus  Ave  should  have  now  to  imagine  the  time 
that  Avould  be  required  for  the  poorer  half  of  London 
going  hurriedly  to  borroAV  from  tlie  richer  half,  in  addi- 
tion to  their  other  anxieties  in  starting  upon  such  a 
sudden  and  momentous  expedition. 

70.  The  story,  hoAvever,  Avill  not  allow  us  to  suppose 
that  they  Avere  living  in  any  such  city  at  all.  Having 
so  large  flocks  and  herds,  '  even  very  much  cattle,'  E. 
xii.  38,  many  of  them  must  have  lived  scattered  over 
tiic  large  extent  of  grazing  ground,  required  under  their 
( ircumstances  ;  and,  accordingly,  they  are  represented 
as  still  living  in  '  tlie  land  of  Goshen,'  E.  ix.  20.  But 
how  large  must  have  been  the  extent  of  this  land  ? 
^Ve  can  form  some  jr.dgment  on  this  point  by  consider- 
ing the  number  of  Innibs,  Avhich  (according  to  the  story) 
must  have  been  killed  for  the  Passover.  The  command 
Avas,  'They  shall  take  to  them  every  man  a  lamb,  ac- 
cording to  the  house  of  their  fathers,  a  lamb  for  an 
house  :  and,  if  the  liousehold  be  too  little  for  the  land), 
let  him  and  his  neighbour,  next  unto  his  house,  take  it 
according  to  the  lannber  of  the  souls  ;  every  man,  ac- 


110  THE   INSTITUTION    OF   THE    PASSOVER. 

cording  to  his  eating,  shall  make  your  count  for  the 
lamb,'  E.  xii.  o,  4.  Jcsephus  {de  Bell.  Jiid.  vi,  9.  3) 
reckons  ten  persons  on  an  average  for  each  lamb  ;  but, 
he  says,  '  many  of  us  are  twenty  in  a  company.'  Kuktz 
allows  fifteen  or  twenty.  Taking  ten  as  the  average 
number,  two  millions  of  people  would  require  about 
200,000  lambs ;  taking  twenty.,  they  would  require 
100,000.  Let  us  take  the  mean  of  these,  and  suppose 
that  they  required  150,000.  And  these  w^ere  to  be  all 
'  iitcde  lambs  of  the  first  year,'  E.  xii.  5.  We  may  as- 
sume that  there  were  as  many  female  lambs  of  the 
first  year,  making  300,000  lambs  of  the  first  year  alto- 
gether. 

71.  But  these  w^ere  not  all.  For,  if  the  150,000 
lambs  that  were  killed  for  the  Passover  comprised 
all  the  males  of  that  year,  there  would  have  been 
no  rams  left  of  that  year  for  the  increase  of  the  flock. 
And,  as  the  same  thing  would  take  place  in  each  suc- 
cessive year,  there  would  never  be  any  rams  or  weth- 
ers, but  ewe-sheep  innumerable.  Instead,  then,  of 
150,000,  we  may  suppose  200,000  male  lambs  of  the 
first  year,  and  200,000  female  lambs,  making  400,000 
lambs  of  the  first  year  altogether.  Now  a  sheepmas- 
ter,  experienced  in  Australia  and  Natal,  informs  me 
that  the  total  number  of  sheep,  in  an  average  flock  of 
all  ages,  will  be  about  five  times  that  of  the  increase 
in  one  season  of  lambing.  So  that  400,000  lambs  of 
the  first  year  implies  a  flock  of  2,000,000  sheep  and 
lambs  of  all  ages.  Taking,  then,  into  account  the  fact, 
that  they  had  also  large  herds,  '  even  very  much  cattle,' 
we  may  fairly  reckon  that  the  Hebrews,  though  so  much 
oppressed,  nnist  have  possessed  at  this  time,  according 
to  the  story,  more  than  tw^o  millions  of  sheep  and  oxen. 


THE    INSTITUTION    OF   THE    PASSOVER.  Ill 

72.  What  extent  of  laud,  tlien,  would  all  these  have 
required  for  pasturage  ?  Having  made  enquiries  on  the 
subject  from  experienced  sheepmasters,  I  have  received 
the  following  replies.  One  informs  me  that  in  New 
Zealand  there  are  a  few  spots,  where  sheep  can  be  kept 
two  to  the  acre  ;  in  other  places,  one  can  be  kept  per 
acre  ;  but,  generally,  two  acres  are  obliged  to  be  allowed 
for  one  sheep.     Another  writes  as  follows  : — • 

In  Australia,  some  sheep-runs  are  estimated  to  carry  one  sheep  to  an 
acre,  and  these,  I  think,  are  of  the  best  quality.  Others  are  estimated  at 
different  numbers  of  acres  to  a  sheep,  until  as  many  as  Jive  acres  are  al- 
lowed for  one  sheep  by  the  Government,  for  the  purposes  of  assessment. 
If  these  lands  were  enclosed  in  small  farms  or  paddocks,  they  would  keep 
a  much  larger  number.  But,  when  shepherded  in  flocks,  much  grass  is 
destroyed  and  trampled  under  foot,  that,  if  the  animal  were  kept  in  a  state 
of  comparative  rest,  would  be  available  for  its  support.  Natal  is  able  to 
support  a  much  greater  number,  principally  from  its  climate,  as  well  as 
from  the  fact  the  proportion  of  good  land  is  incomparably  greater  with 
reference  to  the  extent  of  poor  land.  The  small  number  of  sheep  kept 
here  at  present  would  afford  no  example,  upon  which  an  opinion  could  be 
formed.  But  I  think  that  I  am  within  the  mark,  when  I  say  that  three 
sheep  will  hereafter  be  found  to  be  supported  by  an  acre  of  land. 

Let  US  allow  j^vg  sheep  to  an  acre.  Then  the  shee]) 
alone  of  the  Israelites  would  have  required  400,000 
acres  of  grazing  land, — an  extent  of  country  consider- 
ably larger  than  the  whole  county  of  Hertfordshire  or 
Bedfordshire,  and  more  than  twice  the  size  of  Middle- 
sex,— besides  that  which  would  have  been  required  foi' 
the  oxen. 

Y3.  We  must,  then,  abandon  altogether  the  idea  of 
the  people  living  together  in  one  city,  and  must  sup- 
pose a  great  body  of  them  to  have  been  scattered  about 
in  towns  and  villages,  throughout  the  whole  land  of 
Goshen,  in  a  district  of  400,000  acres,  that  is,  twenty- 
live   miles  scjuare,  larger  than   Hertfordshire  (301,141 


112  niE   INSTITUTION    OF    THE    TASSOVEE. 

acres).  But  then  the  difficulty  of  informing  such  a 
population  would  he  enormously  increased,  as  well  as 
that  of  their  borrowing,  when  summoned  in  the  dead 
of  night,  E.  xii.  29-3d,  to  the  extent  implied  in  the 
story.  For,  even  if  we  supposed  the  first  message,  to 
prepare,  kill,  and  eat  the  Paschal  lamb,  communicated 
to  the  whole  people  within  the  twelve  hours,  and  acted 
on,  when  they  were  abroad  in  full  daylight, — or  that 
they  actually  had  had  a  previous  notice,  to  '  take  '  the 
lambs  on  the  tenth  day,  and  '  keep  '  them  to  the  four- 
teenth,— yet  how  could  the  second  notice,  to  start,  have 
been  so  suddenly  and  completely  circulated  ?  Not  one 
was  '  to  go  out  at  the  door  of  his  house  until  the  morn- 
ing,' E.  xii.  22.  Consequently,  they  could  not  have 
known  anything  of  what  had  happened  in  Pharaoh's 
house  and  city,  as  also  among  his  peo])le  throughout 
tlie  whole  '  land  of  Egypt,'  E.  xii.  29,  until  the  sum- 
mons from  Moses,  or,  at  least,  the  news  of  the  event, 
reached  each  individual  house.  The  whole  population 
of  IIertf(jrdshire,  by  the  census  of  1851,  was  consider- 
ably under  200,000  (167,298).  We  are  to  imagine  then 
its  towns  and  villages  increased  more  than  tenfold  in 
size  or  in  number.  And  then  we  are  to  believe  that 
every  single  household,  throughout  the  entire  county, 
was  warned  in  twelve  hours  to  keep  the  Feast  of  the 
Passover,  was  taught  how  to  keep  it,  and  actually  did 
keep  it ;  and  that,  further,  they  were  warned  again  at 
midnight,  to  start  at  once  in  hurried  flight  for  the  wib 
derness,  when  each  family  was  shut  up  closely  in  its 
own  house,  and  strictly  forbidden  to  come  out  of  it  till 
summoned,  and  they  could  not,  therefore,  communi- 
cate the  tidings  freely,  as  by  day,  from  one  person  to 
a  number  of  others. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE    MAECII    OUT   OF   EGYPT. 


74.  And  the  children  of  Israel  journeyed  from 
Rameses  to  Succoth,  about  six  hundred  thousand  on 
foot  that  were  Tnen,  lesides  children.  And  a  mixed 
Tnultitude  went  up  also  ivith  them,  andfiocTis  and  herds, 
even  very  much  cattle.     E.  xii.  37,  38. 

It  appears  from  N.  i.  3,  ii,  32,  that  tliese  six  Imndrcd 
tliousaiid  -were  the  men  in  the  prime  of  life,  '  fioni 
twenty  years  old  and  iipward,  all  that  were  able  to  go 
forth  to  war  in  Israel.'  And,  (as  wx  have  seen,)  this 
large  number  of  able-bodied  warriors  implies  a  total 
population  of,  at  least,  two  millions.  Here,  then,  we 
have  this  vast  body  of  people  of  all  ages,  summoned  to 
start,  according  to  the  story,  at  a  moment's  notice,  and 
actually  started,  not  one  being  left  behind,  together  with 
all  their  multitudinous  flocks  and  herds,  which  must 
(73)  have  been  spread  out  over  a  district  as  large  as  a 
good-sized  English  county.  Remembering,  as  I  do,  the 
confusion  in  my  own  small  household  of  thirty  or  forty 
persons,  when  once  we  were  obliged  to  fly  at  dead  of 
night, — having  been  roused  from  our  beds  Avith  a  false 
alarm,  that  an  invading  Zulu  force  had  entered  the 
colony,  had  evaded  the  English  troops  sent  to  meet 


114  THE    MAKCn    OUT    OF    EGYPT. 

tliem,  and  was  making  its  way  direct  for  our  Station, 
killing  riglit  and  left  as  it  came  along, — I  do  not  liesi- 
state  to  declare  this  statement  to  be  utterly  incredible 
and  impossible.  Were  an  English  village  of  (say)  two 
thousand  people  to  be  called  suddenly  to  set  out  in  this 
way  with  old  people,  young  children,  and  infants,  what 
indescribable  distress  there  would  be  !  But  what  shall 
be  said  of  a  thousand  times  as  many  ?  And  what  of 
the  sick  and  infirm,  or  the  women  in  recent  or  immi- 
nent childbirth,  in  a  population  like  that  of  Londojt, 
where  the  births  *  are  261  a  day,  or  about  one  every  Jive 
minutes  f 

75.  But  this  is  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  diffi- 
culty. We  are  required  to  believe  that,  in  one  single 
day,  the  order  to  start  was  communicated  suddenly,  at 
midnight,  to  every  single  family  of  every  town  and 
village,  throughout  a  tract  of  country  as  large  as  Hert- 
fordshire, but  ten  times  as  thickly  peopled ; — that,  in 
obedience  to  such  order,  having  first  '  borrowed  '  very 
largely  from  their  Egyptian  neighbours  in  all  direc- 
tions, (though,  if  we  are  to  suppose  Egyptians  occupy- 
ing the  same  territory  with  the  Hebrews,  the  extent  of 
it  must  be  very  much  increased,)  they  then  came  in 
from  all  parts  of  the  land  of  Goshen  to  Rameses,  bring- 
ing with  them  the  sick  and  infirm,  the  young,  and  the 
aged  ; — further,  that,  since  receiving  the  summons  they 
had  sent  out  to  gather  in  all  their  flocks  and  herds, 
spread  over  so  wide  a  district,  and  had  driven  them 
also  to  Kameses  ; — and,  lastly,  that  having  done  all  this, 
since  they  were  roused  at  midnight,  they  were  started 
again  from  Rameses  that  very  same  day,  and  marched 

*  The  births  in  London,  for  a  week  taken  at  random  {Times,  Sept.  3, 
1862),  were  1,852,  and  deaths,  1,147. 


THE   MARCH    OUT   OF   EGYPT.  115 

on  to  Siiccoth,  not  leaving  a  single  sick  or  infirm  per- 
son, a  single  woman  in  childbirth,  or  even  a  '  single 
hoof,'  E.  X.  26,  behind  them  ! 

76.  This  is,  undonbtedly,  what  the  story  in  the  book 
of  Exodus  requires  us  to  believe.  E.  xii.  31-41,  51. 
KuKTz,  however,  is  aware  of  some  of  the  impossibilities 
involved  in  this  statement,  and  makes  an  effort  in  this 
manner  to  explain  them  away,  i.  jp.  357-359. 

'  Just  fancy  two  millions  of  people,  with  large  herds  of  cattle,  and  all 
the  baggage  of  emigrants,  with  their  wives,  and  children,  and  old  men, 
obliged  to  start  in  the  most  hurried  way  !  What  confusion,  what  difficul- 
ties, would  inevitably  impede  them  during  the  first  days  of  their  journey  ! 
An  ordinary  caravan  may  travel  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  a  day.  But  such 
a  procession  could  hardly  be  able  to  do  half  of  this.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered too  that /rf  s/i  parties  were  constantly  joining  them;  and  that  this 
must  have  caused  some  disturbance  and  delay.  We  cannot  imagine  it  pos- 
sible that  two  millions  of  Israelites,  whose  residences  were  scattered  over 
the  whole  land  of  Goshen,  should  all  have  met  together  at  Rameses,  many 
of  them  merely  to  retrace  their  stcjis.  Moreorer,  if  we  consider  that  they 
were  ordered  to  eat  the  Passover  at  the  early  part  of  the  night  in  their 
own  houses,  and  not  to  leave  their  houses'until  the  morning,  we  shall  see 
that  it  must  have  been  actually  impossible  for  them  all  to  meet  in  Rameses 
the  next  morning,  many  of  them  from  the  most  distant  parts  of  Goshen.' 

Ans.  Yet  the  text  before  us  says  plainly,  '  The  children  of  Israel 
journeyed /ro?n  Rameses  to  Succoth,  about  six  hundred  thousand  on  foot.' 

'Eameses  was  the  capital  of  the  province.  There,  no  doubt,  Moses 
and  Aaron  were  residing.  The  procession  started  thence;  and,  after  the 
main  body  had  set  out,  smaller  parties  came  from  all  directions,  as  speed- 
ily as  possible,  and  joined  it  at  the  point  of  the  road  nearest  to  their  own 
dwellings.  It  is  true  that  its  site  is  not  precisely  known.  But  it  is  certain 
that  it  must  have  stood  somewhere  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
king's  palace.  Now,  whether  we  suppose  the  palace  to  have  been  in  He- 
liopolis,  Bubastis,  or  Zoan,  (and  we  have  certainly  only  these  points  to 
choose  from,)  the  shortest  road  to  the  sea,  taking  into  account  the  cir- 
cuitous route,  by  which  the  Israelites  went,  E.  xiv.  2,  would  be  so  long, 
that  it  would  be  necessary  to  travel  seventeen  or  twenty  miles  a  day,  in  or- 
der to  accomplish  the  whole  in  three  daj's.  Others  may  believe  it,  if  they 
please.  But  I  cannot  believe  that  such  a  procession  as  we  have  described, 
could  keep  up  a  journey  of  seventeen  or  twenty  miles  a  day,  for  three 


116  THE    MAltCII    OUT    OF   EGYPT. 

days  running.  Even  if  they  only  travelled  three  days,  it  would  certainly 
be  necessary  to  assume,  as  Tischendorf  docs,  that  there  were  periods  of 
rest  of  longer  duration,  that  is,  actual  days  of  rest  between  the  three 
marching  days.' 

Ans.  But  nothing  whatever  is  said  or  implied  about  these  '  days  of 
rest'  in  the  Scripture.  There  would  surely  have  been  some  reference 
made  to  them,  if  they  really  occurred. 

77.  And  now  let  us  see  tliem  on  the  niarcli  itself. 
If  we  imagine  ih.Q  peojyle  to  have  traTclled  through  the 
open  desert,  in  a  wide  body,  fifty  men  abreast,  as  some 
suppose  (60)  to  have  been  the  practice  in  tlie  Hebrew 
armies,  then,  allowing  an  interval  of  a  yard  between 
each  rank,  the  able-bodied  warriors  alone  would  have 
filled  np  the  road  for  about  seven  miles^  and  the  whole 
multitude  would  have  formed  a  dense  column  more 
than  twenty-two  miles  Icmg, — so  that  the  last  of  the 
body  could  not  have  been  started  till  the  front  had  ad- 
vanced that  distance,  more  than  two  days'  journey  for 
such  a  mixed  company  as  this. 

And  the  sheep  and  cattle — these  must  have  formed 
another  vast  column,  but  obviously  covering  a  much 
greater  tract  of  ground  in  proportion  to  their  number, 
as  they  would  not  inarch  of  course  in  compact  order. 
Hence  the  drove  must  have  been  lengthened  out  for 
many  long  miles.  And  such  grass  as  there  was,  if  not 
eaten  down  by  the  first  ranks,  must  have  been  trodden 
under  foot  at  once  and  destroyed,  by  those  that  fob 
lowed  them  mile  after  mile.  What  then  did  those  two 
millions  of  sheep  and  oxen  live  wpon  during  this  jour- 
ney from  Rameses  to  Succoth,  and  from  Succoth  to 
Etham,  and  from  Etliam  to  the  Red  Sea  ? 

78.  Even  if  we  supposed  with  Kurtz,  contrary  to 
the  plain  meaning  of  the  Scripture,  that  they  did  not 
all  rendfizvous  at  Kameses,  but  fell  into  the  line  farther 


TUE  MAKCH  OUT  OF  EGYPT.  IIT 

Oil,  on  the  first  day  or  the  second,  still  this  would  not 
in  reality  in  any  way  relieve  the  difficulty,  of  so  many 
miles  of  people  marching  with  so  many  miles  of  sheep 
and  oxen.  It  would  only  throw  it  on  to  a  farther  stage 
of  the  journey.  For  when,  on  the  third  day,  they 
turned  aside  and  '  encamped  by  the  Sea,'  E.  xiv,  2, 
what  then  did  this  enormous  multitude  of  cattle  feed 
upon  ?     KiTTo,  Hist,  of  the  Jetvs,  p.  177,  says, — 

The  journey  to  this  point  had  been  for  the  most  part  over  a  desert,  the 
surface  of  which  is  composed  of  hard  gravel,  often  strewed  with  pebbles. 

What,  again,  did  they  eat  the  next  day,  when  they 
crossed  the  Sea  ?  What  on  the  next  three  days,  when 
they  marched  through  the  wilderness  of  Shur,  and 
'  found  no  water,'  E.  xv.  22  ?  Of  this  last  stage  of  their 
march  Kitto  says,  ih.  2>-  191  : — 

Their  road  lay  over  a  desert  region,  sandy,  gravelly,  and  stony,  alter- 
nately. In  about  nine  miles  they  entered  a  boundless  desert  plain,  called 
El  AH,  white  and  painfully  glaring  to  the  eye.  Proceeding  beyond  thia, 
the  ground  became  hilly,  with  sand-hills  near  the  coast. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

THE   SHEEP   AND   CATTLE   OF   THE   ISRAELITES   IN   THE 

DESEET. 

Y9.  And  the  children  of  Israel  did  eat  manna  for 
forty  years,  tmtil  they  came  to  a  land  inhahited  ;  they 
did  eat  mamia  until  they  came  unto  the  borders  of  the 
land  of  Canaan.    E.  xvi.  35. 

The  peoj^le,  we  are  told,  were  supplied  with  manna. 
But  there  was  no  miraculous  provision  of  food  for  the 
herds  and  flocks.  They  were  left  to  gather  sustenance, 
as  they  could,  in  that  inhospitable  wilderness.  We 
will  now  go  on  to  consider  the  possibility  of  such  a 
multitude  of  cattle  finding  any  means  of  support,  for 
forty  years,  under  these  circumstances. 

80.  And,  first,  it  is  certain  that  the  story  represents 
them  as  possessioig  these  flocks  and  herds  during  the 
whole  of  the  forty  years  which  they  spent  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Thus,  in  the  second  year,  Moses  asks,  '  Shall  the 
flocks  and  the  herds  be  slain  for  them  to  sufiice  them  ? ' 
]^,  xi.  22.  And  in  the  fortieth  year  Ave  read,  '  The 
childreti  of  Reuben  and  the  children  of  Gad  had  a  very 
great  multitude  of  cattle,'  N".  xxxii.  1.  This,  it  is  true, 
is  said  immediately  after  the  capture  of  a  great  number 
of  cattle  and  sheep  from  the  Midianites,  IST,  xxxi.  But 
the  spoil  in  that  case  was  divided  among  all  the  people. 


THE   CATTLE   OF  THE   ISRAELITES.  119 

And,  therefore,  if  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad  could 
still  be  distinguished  among  the  rest,  as  having  a  great 
multitude  of  cattle,  they  must  have  been  so  noted  be- 
fore the  plunder  of  the  Midianites.  Accordingly,  ^ye 
i\i\d  that,  at  the  end  of  the  Jirst  year,  they  kept  the 
second  Passover  under  Sinai,  N.  ix.  5,  and,  therefore, 
we  may  presume,  had  at  that  time,  as  before,  200,000 
male  lambs  of  the  first  year  (60)  at  their  command,  and 
two  millions  of  sheep  and  oxen  close  at  hand. 

81.  Again,  it  cannot  be  supposed,  as  some  have  sug- 
gested, that  the  flocks  and  herds  were  scattered  far  and 
wide,  during  the  sojourn  of  the  people  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  so  were  able  the  more  easily  to  find  pasture. 
The  story  says  nothing,  and  implies  nothing,  whatever 
of  this  ;  but,  as  far  as  it  proves  anything,  it  proves  the 
contrary,  since  we  find  the  whole  body  of  the  people 
together,  on  all  occasions  specified  in  the  history.  If, 
indeed,  they  had  been  so  dispersed,  they  would  surely 
have  required  to  be  guarded,  by  large  bodies  of  armed 
men,  from  the  attacks  of  the  Amalekites,  Midianites, 
and  others. 

But,  even  if  this  was  the  case  during  the  thirty- 
seven  years,  about  which  the  story  is  silent  altogeth- 
er, yet,  at  all  events,  during  nearly  twelve  months, 
■ — '  a  year  all  but  ten  days,'  says  Kuetz, — they  were 
all  collected  under  Sinai,  while  the  Tabernacle  was  in 
process  of  building,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  sec- 
ond Passover  was  kept.  We  must,  therefore,  conclude 
that  they  came  to  Sinai  with  those  immense  bodies  of 
sheep  and  oxen,  with  which,  three  months  before,  they 
had  set  out  from  Egypt.  Hence  we  find  the  command 
in  E.  xxxiv.  3,  '  Neither  let  the  flocks  nor  herds  feed 
before  that  mount.' 


120  THE    SHEEP   AND   CATTLE   OF 

82.  Lastly,  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  state  of 
the  countiy,  through  which  they  travelled,  has  under- 
gone any  material  change  from  that  time  to  this.  It 
is  described  as  being  then  what  it  is  now,  a  '  des- 
ert land,'  a  '  waste  howling  wilderness,'  D.  xxxii.  10. 
'  Why  have  ye  brought  up  the  Congregation  of  Jehovah 
into  this  wilderness,  that  we  and  our  cattle  should  die 
there  ?  And  wherefore  have  ye  made  us  to  come  up 
out  of  Egypt,  to  bring  us  unt<5  this  evil  place  ?  It  is  no 
place  of  seed,  or  of  figs,  or  of  vines,  or  of  pomegranates ; 
neither  is  there  any  water  to  drink^  IS.,  xx.  4,  5.  From 
this  passage  it  appears  also  that  the  water  from  the 
rock  did  not  follow  them,  as  some  have  supposed.  '  Be- 
ware that  thou  forget  not  Jehovah,  thy  God,  who  led 
thee  through  tliat  great  and  terrible  wilderness,  wherein 
were  fiery  serpents  and  scorpions,  and  drought,  where 
there  was  no  water.''  D.  viii.  15.  '  Neither  said  they, 
Where  is  Jehovah,  that  brought  us  up  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  that  led  us  through  the  wilderness,  through 
a  land  of  deserts  and  of  pits,  through  a  land  of  drought 
and  of  the  shadow  of  death,  through  a  land  that  no 
man  passed  through,  and  where  no  man  dwelt  ? '  Jer. 
ii.  6. 

83.  Let  us  now  see  what  Canon  Stanley  tells  us, 
first,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  country,  through  which  the 
host  of  Israel  must  have  marched  from  the  Red  Sea  to 
Sinai.     {Sinai  and  Palestine.) 

The  wind  drove  us  to  shore — the  shores  of  Arabia  and  Asia.  We  land- 
ed in  a  driving  sand-storm,  and  reached  this  place,  Ayun-Musa,  the  wells 
of  Moses.  It  is  a  strange  spot,  this  plot  of  tamarisks,  with  its  seventeen 
wells,  literalhj  an  island  in  the  desert,  and  now  used  as  the  Richmond  of 
Suez,  a  comparison  which  chiefly  serves  to  show  what  a  place  Suez  itself 
must  be.  Behind  that  African  range  lay  Egypt,  with  all  its  wonders, — the 
green  fields  of  the  Nile,  the  immense  cities,  the  greatest  monuments  of 


THE   ISEAELITES   IK   TUE   DESEET.  121 

human  power  and  wisdom.  On  this  Asiatic  side  begins  immediately  a 
wide  circle  of  level  desert^  stone,  and  sand,  free  as  air,  but  with  no  trace  of 
human  habitation  or  art,  where  they  might  wander,  as  far  as  they  saw,  for 
ever  and  ever.  And,  between  the  two,  rolled  the  deep  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea,  I'ising  and  falling  with  the  tides,  which,  except  on  its  shores,  none  of 
them  could  have  seen, — the  tides  of  the  great  Indian  Ocean,  unlike  the 
still  dead  waters  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

The  day  after  leaving  Ayun-Musa  was  at  first  within  sight  of  the  blue 
channel  of  the  Red  Sea.  But  soon  Red  Sea  and  all  were  lost  in  a  sand- 
storm, which  lasted  the  whole  day.  (I  have  retained  this  account  of  the 
sand-storm,  chiefly  because  it  seems  to  be  a  phenomenon  pecuhar  to  this 
special  region.  Van  Egmont,  Niebuhr,  Miss  Martineau,  all  noticed  it ; 
and  it  was  just  as  violent  at  the  passage  of  a  friend  in  1841,  and  again  of 
another  two  months  after  ourselves  in  1853.)  Imagine  all  distant  objects 
entirely  lost  to  view, — the  sheets  of  sand  floating  along  the  surface  of  the 
desert,  like  streams  of  water,  the  whole  air  filled  with  a  tempest  of  sand, 
driving  in  your  face  like  sleet. 

We  were,  undoubtedly,  on  the  track  of  the  Israelites  ;  and  we  saw  the 
spring,  which  most  travellers  believe  to  be  Marah,  and  the  two  valleys,  one 
of  which  must  almost  certainly,  both  perhaps,  be  Elim.  The  general 
scenery  is  either  immense  plains,  [i.  e.  bare  and  barren  plains  of  sand,  as 
described  below,]  or,  latterly,  a  succession  of  watercourses,  [witJiout  water, 
see  below,]  exactly  like  the  dry  bed  of  a  Spanish  river.  These  gullies 
gradually  bving  you  into  the  heart  of  strange  black  and  white  mountains. 
For  the  most  part  the  desert  was  absolutely  bare.  But  the  two  rivals  for 
Elim  are  fringed  with  trees  and  shrubs,  the  first  vegetation  we  have  met  in 
the  desert.  First,  there  are  the  wild  palms,  successors  of  the  '  three-score  and 
ten,'  not  like  those  of  Egypt  or  of  pictures,  but  either  dwarf,  that  is,  trunk- 
less,  or  else  with  savage,  hairy  trunks,  and  branches  all  dishevelled.  Then 
there  are  the  feathery  tamarisks,  here  assuming  gnarled  boughs  and  hoary 
heads,  on  whose  leaves  is  found  what  the  Arabs  call  manna.  Thirdly,  there 
is  the  wild  acacia,  but  this  is  also  tangled  by  its  desert  growth  into  a  thick- 
et,— the  tree  of  the  Burning  Bush  and  the  Shittim-wood  of  the  Tabernacle. 
...  A  stair  of  rock  brought  us  into  a  glorious  wady,  enclosed  between 
red  granite  mountains,  descending  precipitously  upon  the  sands.  I  cannot 
too  often  repeat  that  these  wadys  are  exactly  like  rivers,  except  in  haviiig 
no  v}ater ;  and  it  is  this  appearance  of  torrent-bed  and  banks,  and  clefts  in 
the  rocks  for  tributary  streams,  and  at  times  even  rushes  and  shrubs  fring- 
ing their  course,  which  gives  to  the  whole  wilderness  a  doubly  dry  and 
thirsty  aspect, — sigjis  of  '  Water,  ivater,  everywhere,  and  not  a  drop  to 
drink.'' 

6 


122  THE    SHEEP   AND'  CATTLE   OF 

Here  too  began  the  curious  sight  of  the  mountains,  streaked  from  head 
to  foot,  as  if  with  boihng  streams  of  dark  red  matter  poured  over  them, — 
really  the  igneous  fluid  spurted  upwards,  as  they  were  heaved  from  the 
ground.  The  road  lay  through  what  seemed  to  be  the  ruins,  the  cinders, 
of  mountains  calcined  to  ashes,  like  the  heaps  of  a  gigantic  foundry. 
p.  96-71. 

There  are  at  first  sight  many  appearances,  which,  to  an  unpractised 
eye,  seem  indications  of  volcanic  agency.  But  they  are  all,  it  is  believed, 
illusory.  The  vast  heaps,  as  of  calcined  mountains,  are  only  the  detritus 
of  iron  in  the  sandstone  formation.  The  traces  of  igneous  action  in  the 
granite  rocks  belong  to  their  first  upheaving,  not  to  any  subsequent  con- 
vulsions. Everywhere  there  are  signs  of  the  action  of  water,  nowhere  of 
fire.    p.  22. 

84,  Such,  then,  is  the  track,  along  which,  according 
to  the  story,  the  two  millions  of  Israelites  had  to  pass 
with  their  two  millions  of  sheep  and  oxen.  Let  us  now 
see  what  Canon  Stanley  tells  us  about  the  state  of 
vegetation  generally  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula. 

Another  feature  [of  the  mountains  of  this  peninsula]  is  the  infinite 
complication  of  jagged  peaks  and  varied  ridges.  This  is  the  characteristic 
described  by  Sir  F.  Henniker,  with  a  slight  exaggeration  of  expression, 
when  he  says  that  the  view  from  Jebel  Musa  is  '  as  if  Arabia  Petraja  were  an 
ocean  of  lava,  which,  while  its  waves  were  running  mountains  high,  had 
suddenly  stood  still.'  It  is  an  equally  striking  and  more  accurate  expres- 
sion of  the  same,  when  he  speaks  of  the  whole  range  as  being  the  '  Alps 
unclothed.'  This — their  union  of  grandeur  loith  desolation — is  the  point 
of  their  scenery  absolutely  unrivalled.  They  are  the  Alps  of  Arabia,  but 
the  Alps  planted  in  the  desert,  and,  therefore,  stripped  of  all  the  clothing, 
which  goes  to  make  up  our  notions  of  Swiss  or  English  mountains, — strip- 
ped of  the  variegated  drapery  of  oak,  and  birch,  and  pine,  and  fir,  of  moss, 
and  grass,  and  fern,  which  to  landscapes  of  European  hills  are  almost  as 
essential  as  the  rocks  and  peaks  themselves.  The  very  name  of  Alp  is 
strictly  applied  only  to  the  green  pasture-lands,  enclosed  by  rocks  or  gla- 
ciers,— a  sight  in  the  European  Alps  so  common,  in  these  Arabian  Alps  so 
wholly  unknown,     p.  13. 

The  general  character  of  the  wadys,  as  well  as  of  the  mountains,  of 
Sinai  is  entire  desolation.  If  the  mountains  are  naked  Alps,  the  valleys 
are  dry  rivers,  p.  16.  For  a  few  weeks  or  days  in  the  winter,  these  wadys 
present,  it  is  said,  the  appeai'ance  of  rushing  streams.     But  their  usual 


THE   ISRAELITES   IN   THE   DESERT.  123 

aspect  is  absolutely  bare  and  waste,  only  presenting  the  image  of  thirsty 
desolation  the  more  striliingly,  from  the  constant  indications  of  water, 
which  is  no  longer  there,    p.  15. 

There  is  nearly  everywhere  a  thin,  it  might  almost  be  said,  a  transpa- 
rejit,  coating  of  vegetation.  There  are  occasional  spots  of  verdure,  which 
escape  notice  in  a  general  view,  but  for  that  very  reason  are  the  more  re- 
markable, when  observed.  Not,  perhaps,  every  single  tree,  but  every 
group  of  trees,  lives  in  the  traveller's  recollection,  as  distinctly  as  the 
towns  and  spires  of  civihzed  countries.  .  .  .  The  more  definitely  marked 
spots  of  verdure,  however,  are  the  accompaniments,  not  of  the  empty  beds 
of  winter  torrents,  but  of  the  few  living,  perhaps  perennial,  springs,  which, 
by  the  mere  fact  of  their  rarity,  assume  an  importance  difficult  to  be  un- 
derstood in  the  moist  scenery  of  the  West  and  North.  The  springs,  whose 
sources  are  for  the  most  part  high  up  in  the  mountain  clefts,  occasionally 
send  down  into  the  wadys  rills  of  water,  which,  however  scanty,  however 
little  deserving  of  the  name  even  of  brooks,  yet  become  immediately 
the  nucleus  of  whatever  vegetation  the  desert  produces.  (Ruppell  notices 
four  perennial  brooks.)  Often  their  course  can  be  traced,  not  by  visible 
water,  but  by  a  tract  of  moss  here,  a  fringe  of  rushes  there,  a  solitary  palm, 
a  group  of  acacias,  which  at  once  denote  that  an  unseen  life  is  at  work. 
p.  15-18. 

The  highest  of  these  [peaks  of  Mount  Serbal]  is  a  huge  block  of  granite. 
On  this  you  stand,  and  overlook  the  whole  peninsula  of  Sinai.  Every 
feature  of  the  extraordinary  conformation  lies  before  you, — the  wadys, 
coursing  and  winding  in  every  direction, — the  long  crescent  of  the  Wady 
es  Sheikh, — the  infinite  number  of  mountains  like  a  model,  their  colours 
all  clearly  displayed,  the  dark  granite,  the  brown  sandstone,  the  yellow 
desert,  the  dots  of  vegetation  along  the  Wady  Feiran,  and  the  one  green 
spot  of  the  great  palm-grove  (if  so  it  be)  of  Rephidim.     p.  72. 

85.  "We  thus  see  the  character  of  this  desert,  in 
which  this  immense  number  of  cattle  was  sustained, 
according  to  the  story,  for  the  space  of  forty  years. 
Canon  Stanley  will  not,  however,  evade  the  difficult 
question,  which  is  thus  raised  ;  and  this  is  his  comment 
upon  it,  p.  23-27,  with  the  replies  which  must  be  made 
to  the  different  parts  of  his  argument. 

(i)  '  The  question  is  asked,  How  could  a  tribe,  so  numerous  and  power- 
ful, as  on  any  (?)  hypothesis  the  Israelites  must  have  been,  be  maintained 
in  this  inhospitable  desert  ?     It  is  no  answer  to  say  that  they  were  main- 


124  THE   SHEEP   AND   CATTLE   OF 

tained  by  miracles.  For,  except  the  manna,  the  quails,  and  the  three  in- 
terventions with  regard  to  water,  none  such  are  mentioned  in  the  Mosaic 
history  ;  and,  if  we  have  no  warrant  to  take  away,  we  have  no  warrant  to 
add.' 

Ans.  But,  even  if  the  people  were  supported  by  miracles,  yet  there  is 
no  provision  whatever  made  in  the  Scripture  for  the  support  of  the  cattle. 
And  these  would  need  water  as  well  as  green  food ;  and  from  N.  xx.  5,  D. 
viii.  15,  it  appears  that  the  miraculous  supply  of  water  was  not  permanent. 
And  so  Kalisch  observes,  Exod.  p.  227, — '  The  great  scarcity  of  water  in 
the  Peninsula  of  Sinai  is  universally  known.'  '  In  a  space  of  315  miles,' 
says  Harmer,  '  over  part  of  this  wilderness,  Mr.  Irwin  found  only  four 
springs  of  water.  In  another  space  of  115  miles,  he  found  only  four 
springs,  at  one  of  which  the  water  was  brackish,  and  at  another  unwhole- 
some.' 

We  shall  presently  produce  the  testimony  of  other  writers  on  this 
point. 

(ii)  '  Xor  is  it  any  answer  to  say  that  this  difficulty  is  a  proof  of  the 
impossibility,  and,  therefore,  of  the  unhistorical  character  of  the  narrative. 
For,  as  Ewald  has  well  shown,  the  general  truth  of  the  wanderings  in  the 
wilderness  is  an  essential  preliminary  to  the  whole  of  the  subsequent  his- 
tory of  Israel.' 

Ans.  EwALD  certainly  asserts  this ;  but  I  cannot  find  any  place  where 
he  shows  it.  The  story  of  the  Exodus  is,  no  doubt,  an  '  essential  pre- 
liminary' to  certain  parts  of  the  subsequent  history  of  Israel,  as  recorded, 
but  not  to  the  whole  of  it.  If  that  story  be  shown  to  be  untrue,  those 
parts  may  also  have  to  be  abandoned  as  untrue,  but  not  the  whole  Jewish 
history. 

(iii)  '  Much  may  be  allowed  for  the  spread  of  the  tribes  of  Israel  far 
and  wide  through  the  whole  peninsula,  and  also  for  the  constant  means  of 
support  from  their  own  flocks  and  herds.' 

A7is.  1  doubt  if  any  allowance  can  be  made  for  such  spreading  (81). 
The  Mosaic  narrative  says  nothing  of  any  such  a  dispersion  of  the  people. 
And,  surely,  the  whole  tone  of  it  implies  that  they  were  kept  constantly 
together,  under  the  direct  personal  control  of  Moses.  As  before  observed, 
if  the  cattle  had  been  scattered  in  the  way  here  supposed,  they  would  have 
needed  to  be  guarded  by  large  bodies  of  armed  men,  from  the  attacks  of 
other  hostile  tribes.  But  the  numbers  of  the  warriors  of  each  tribe  are 
carefully  summed  up  in  N.  i,  ii ;  and  the  position  of  each  camp  is  assigned 
in  N.  X,  with  distinct  directions  how  they  were  to  march,  in  front,  and  in 
the  rear,  and  on  either  side  of  the  Levites  bearing  the  Tabernacle.  And 
the  names  of  all  the  marches  thus  made  are  recorded  in  N.  xxxiii. 


THE   ISRAELITES    IN    THE   DESERT.  125 

Besides  which,  it  seems  to  be  clearly  implied  in  N.  ix.  17-23  that  they 
travelled  all  together,  and  were  not  separated  into  different  bodies,  as 
Stanley  supposes.  '  When  the  cloud  was  taken  up  from  the  Tabernacle, 
then  after  that  the  children  of  Israel  journeyed;  and  in  the  place,  where 
the  cloud  abode,  there  the  children  of  Israel  pitched  their  tents.'  '  Whether 
it  were  two  days,  or  a  month,  or  a  year,  that  the  cloud  tarried  upon  the 
Tabernacle,  remaining  thereon,  the  children  of  Israel  abode  in  their  tents, 
and  journeyed  not ;  but,  when  it  was  taken  up,  they  journeyed.  Who,  in 
these  verses,  are  meant  by  '  the  children  of  Israel '? '  Surely,  the  same 
who,  a  few  verses  before,  in  the  same  chapter,  are  ordered  to  keep  the 
second  Passover  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  N.  ix.  1,  2, — that  is,  the  whole 
body  of  the  people.  It  appears  to  me  a  plain  evasion  of  the  distinct  mean- 
ing of  the  Scripture,  only  resorted  to  in  order  to  escape  from  a  position 
of  extreme  difficulty,  to  suggest,  as  Kurtz  does,  iii.  p.  306,  that  such  words 
as  the  above  are  to  be  understood  only  of  Moses  and  Aaron  and  the  Taber- 
nacle, guarded,  perhaps,  by  a  troop  of  armed  men,  going  about  in  circuit 
continually  to  visit  the  different  scattered  knots  of  families. 

But,  at  all  events,  they  were  all,  according  to  the  story,  assembled  to- 
gether under  Mount  Sinai,  in  one  of  the  most  desolate  parts  of  the  whole 
peninsula ;  and  they  continued  there  for  nearly  twelve  months,  and  had 
their  flocks  there,  since  at  the  end  of  that  time  they  kept  the  second  Pass- 
over, N.  ix.  5. 

Doubtless,  they  may  be  supposed  to  have  derived  some  support  from 
the  slaughter  of  their  flocks  and  herds.  The  question  is,  hov/  were  the 
flocks  and  herds  themselves  supported  ? 

(iv)  '  Something,  too,  might  be  elicited  from  the  undoubted  fact,  that  a 
population  nearly,  if  not  quite,  equal  to  the  whole  permanent  population 
of  the  peninsula,  does  actually  pass  through  the  desert,  in  the  caravan  of 
the  five  thousand  African  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  Mecca.' 

Ans.  But  the  population,  which  we  are  now  considering,  was  two  mil- 
lions, "not  five  thousand. 

And  these  two  millions  of  all  ages  had  been  driven  out  of  Egypt  in 
haste,  and  '  had  not  prepared  for  themselves  any  victual,'  and  had  no 
means  of  carrying  food,  if  they  had  had  it.  Whereas  the  Mecca  caravan 
will,  no  doubt,  have  made  all  due  preparation  for  the  journey  long  before- 
hand, and  will  carry  with  it,  we  must  suppose,  ample  store  of  provisions  on 
the  backs  of  its  camels. 

Again,  the  two  millions  remain  twelve  months  at  a  time  in  one  most 
desolate  spot,  and  wander  forty  years  in  the  dry  and  weary  land.  Where- 
as the  caravan  merely  passes  through  in  a  few  days  at  the  most. 

Lastly,  the  Israelites  had,  according  to  the  story,  vast  multitudes  of 


126  THE    SHEEP    AND   CATTLE   OF 

cattle,  which  had  to  be  sustained  in  the  desert  without  miraculous  help. 
But  the  caravan  has  no  flocks  or  herds,  and  travels  with  camels,  which 
can  go  for  weeks  without  water. 

(v)  '  But,  among  these  considerations,  it  is  important  to  observe  what 
indications  there  may  be  of  the  mountains  of  Sinai  having  ever  been  able 
to  furnish  greater  resources  than  at  present.  These  indications  are  well 
summed  up  by  Ritter.' 

A71S.  Whatever  they  may  be,  they  cannot  do  away  with  the  plain  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible  already  quoted,  which  shows  that  the  general  character 
of  the  desert  was  as  desolate  and  barren  then  as  now. 

(vi)  '  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  vegetation  of  the  wadys  has  consider- 
ably decreased.  In  part,  this  would  be  an  inevitable  effect  of  the  violence 
of  the  winter  torrents.  The  trunks  of  palm-trees  washed  up  on  the 
shore  of  the  Dead  Sea,  from  which  the  living  tree  has  now  for  many  cen- 
turies disappeared,  show  what  may  have  been  the  devastation  produced 
among  these  mountains,  where  the  floods,  especially  in  earlier  times,  must 
have  been  violent  to  a  degree  unknown  in  Palestine  ;  whilst  the  peculiar 
cause,  the  impregnation  of  salt,  which  has  preserved  the  vestiges  of  the 
older  vegetation  there,  has  here,  of  course,  no  existence.  The  traces  of 
such  destruction  were  pointed  out  to  Burckhardt  on  the  eastern  side  of 
Mount  Sinai,  as  having  occurred  within  half  a  century  before  his  visit ; 
also  to  Wellsted,  as  having  occurred  near  Tur  in  1832.' 

Ans.  That  palm-trees  are  found,  washed  up  on  the  shores  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  into  which  they  found  their  way,  no  doubt,  from  the  river  Jordan, 
gives  surely  no  shadow  of  ground  for  believing  that  such  trees,  or  any 
other,  grew  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai.  Stanley  himself  writes  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  p.  293,— 

'  Strewn  along  its  desolate  margin,  lie  the  most  striking  memorials  of 
this  last  conflict  of  life  and  death, — trunks  and  branches  of  trees,  torn 
down  from  the  thickets  of  the  river-jungle,  by  the  violence  of  the  Jordan, 
thrust  out  into  the  sea,  and  thrown  up  again  by  its  waves.' 

It  does  not  appear  tvhy  the  floods  are  supposed  to  have  been  more  vio- 
lent in  earlier  times  than  now.  But,  supposing  that  they  were,  and  much 
more  violent  than  in  Palestine,  and  that  Burckhardt  and  Wellsted  saw  the 
traces  of  the  devastation  caused  by  them,  it  is  notorious  that  the  flood  of 
one  year,  by  the  deposit  which  it  leaves,  rather  assists  than  otherwise  the 
vegetation  of  the  next  year.  A  few  trees  may  be  washed  away ;  but  the 
general  verdure,  which  concerns  most  the  present  question  of  the  cattle, 
would  be  promoted  by  a  heavy  fall  of  rain. 

(vii)  '  In  fact,  the  same  result  has  followed  from  the  reckless  waste  of 
the  Bedouin  tribes — reckless  in  destroying  and  careless  in  replenishing. 


TnE   ISRAELITES   IN   THK   DESERT.  127 

A  fire,  a  pipe,  lit  under  a  grove  of  desert  trees,  may  clear  away  the  vege- 
tation of  a  whole  valley.  .  .  .  Again,  it  is  mentioned  by  Roppell,  that 
the  acacia  trees  have  been  of  late  years  ruthlessly  destroyed  by  the  Be- 
douins for  the  sake  of  charcoal ;  especially  since  they  have  been  compelled 
by  the  Pasha  of  Egypt  to  pay  a  tribute  in  charcoal,  for  an  assault  com- 
mitted on  the  Mecca  caravan  in  the  year  1823.  Charcoal  is,  in  fact,  the 
chief — perhaps,  it  might  be  said,  the  only — traffic  of  the  peninsula.  Camels 
are  constantly  met,  loaded  with  this  wood,  on  the  way  between  Cairo  and 
Suez.  And,  as  this  probably  has  been  carried  on  to  a  great  degree  by  the 
monks  of  the  convent,  it  may  account  for  the  fact,  that,  whereas  in  the 
valleys  of  the  eastern  clusters  this  tree  abounds  more  or  less,  yet  in  the 
central  cluster  itself,  to  which  modern  tradition  certainly,  and  geographical 
considerations  probably,  point  as  the  mountain  of  the  '  burning  thorn,'  and 
the  scene  of  the  building  of  the  Ark  and  all  the  utensils  of  the  Tabernacle, 
from  this  very  wood,  there  is  now  not  a  single  acacia  to  be  seen.'  Com- 
pare Stanley's  statement  from  ocular  observation,  with  the  bold  assertion 
of  Havernick,  Pent.  p.  284,  '  The  most  important  material,  the  wood  for 
the  Tabernacle,  is  just  that  which  is  found  here  most  plentifully.' 

Ans.  It  is  possible  that  the  Ark  may  have  been  made  of  the  wood  of 
this  acacia  {Natal  mimosa),  of  which  the  Hebrews  may  have  found  a  few 
trees  in  the  desert.  But  it  is  certainly  a  very  noticeable  fact,  that  '  not  a 
single  acacia '  is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  very  region,  where,  according  to  the 
story,  not  merely  the  Ark,  with  the  vessels  of  the  Tabernacle,  but  the  Tab- 
ernacle itself  was  built,  with  its  forty-eight  boards  of  shittim  (acacia)  wood, 
each  10  cubits  by  1^  cubit,  that  is,  18^  ft.  long  by  2f  ft.  broad,  E.  xxxvi. 
20-30.  It  may  be  doubted  if  the  '  probable '  labours  of  the  monks,  in  burn- 
ing charcoal  during  late  years,  are  enough  to  account  for  such  a  complete 
disappearance  of  the  tree.  In  Natal,  trees  of  this  kind  are  cut  down  for  fire- 
wood ;  and,  by  wasteful  or  excessive  cutting,  a  piece  of  good  bush-land  may 
be  stripped  of  all  the  trees,  tv/iich  are  Jit  for  such  a  purpose.  But  there 
will  still  remain  a  multitude  of  young  trees  and  small  saplings,  which  have 
sprung  up  from  the  seed  shed  by  the  old  ones,  and  have  not  been  cut  down, 
because  utterly  useless  as  firewood. 

Besides,  the  destruction  of  trees  would  not  affect  directly  the  growth 
of  grass,  on  which  the  flocks  and  herds  depended  in  the  case  of  the  Is- 
raelites, however  (as  Stanley  suggests  in  the  next  passage)  it  might,  per- 
haps, affect  it  indirectly,  but  surely  to  a  very  slight  and  almost  inappre- 
ciable degree,  by  diminishing  the  quantity  of  moisture  attracted  to  the  land. 

(viii)  '  If  this  be  so,  the  greater  abundance  of  vegetation  would,  as  is 
well  known,  have  furnished  a  greater  abundance  of  water  ;  and  this  again 


128  THE   SHEEP   AISTD   CATTLE   OF 

would  react  on  the  vegetation,  from  which  the  means  of  subsistence  would 
be  procured.' 

Ans.  The  general  answer  to  the  above  is,  that  the  Bible  speaks  of  the 
desert  in  exactly  the  same  terms  as  those,  which  would  even  now  be  used 
to  describe  it.  Especially,  the  extreme  scarcity  of  water  is  expressly  no- 
ticed. It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  removal  of  a  few  acacias  has  not  ma- 
terially changed  the  face  and  character  of  the  country. 

(ix)  '  How  much  may  be  done  by  a  careful  use  of  such  water  and  such 
soil  as  the  desert  supplies,  may  be  seen  by  the  only  two  spots,  to  which, 
now,  a  diligent  and  provident  attention  is  paid,  namely,  the  gardens  at  the 
Wells  of  Moses,  under  the  care  of  the  French  and  English  agents  from 
Suez,  and  the  gardens  in  the  valleys  of  Jebel  Musa,  under  the  care  of  the 
Greek  monks  of  the  convent  of  St.  Catherine.  Even  so  late  as  the  seven- 
teenth century,  if  we  may  trust  the  expression  of  Monconts,  the  Wady- 
er-Rahah,  in  front  of  the  convent,  now  entirely  bare,  was  a  vast  green 
plain,'  une  grande  champagne  verte. 

And  so  writes  Shaw,  Travels  to  the  Holy  Zattd,  ch.  ii. : — 

'  Hwugh  nothing  that  can  properly  be  called  soil  is  to  be  found  in  these 
parts  of  Arabia,  these  monks  have,  in  a  lo7ig  process  of  time  (N.  B.),  cov- 
ered over,  with  dung  and  the  sweepings  of  their  convent,  near  four  acres 
of  these  naked  rocks,  which  produce  as  good  cabbages,  salads,  roots,  and 
all  kinds  of  pot-herbs,  as  any  soil  and  climate  whatsoever.  They  have 
likewise  raised  apple,  pear,  plum,  almond,  and  olive  trees,  not  only  in  great 
numbers,  but  also  of  excellent  kinds.  Their  grasses  also  are  not  inferior, 
either  in  size  or  flavour,  to  any  whatsoever.  Thus  this  httle  garden  demon- 
strates how  far  an  indefiitigable  industry  may  prevail  over  nature.' 

Ans.  But  the  fact,  that,  in  a  few  favoured  spots,  by  great  care  and  in- 
dustry, and  in  a  long  process  of  time,  '  little  gardens '  like  this  have  been 
raised,  is  no  proof  that  in  the  peninsula  generally,  for  forty  years,  and  in 
particular  at  the  foot  of  Sinai,  for  twelve  months  together,  at  a  mementos 
notice,  such  an  immense  body  of  cattle  could  have  been  provided  with  the 
food  and  water  they  required.  The  expression  of  Monconys,  '  if  Ave  may 
trust  it,'  may  have  reference  to  the  '  thin  transparent  coating  of  vegetation,' 
of  which  Stanley  himself  speaks  (84).  But,  whatever  it  may  mean,  the 
desert  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  '  great  and  terrible  wilderness,'  a  '  land  of 
drought  and  of  the  shadow  of  death.' 

(x)  '  And  that  there  was,  in  ancient  times,  a  greater  population  than  at 
present, — which  would  again,  by  thus  furnishing  heads  and  hands  to  con- 
sider and  to  cultivate  these  spots  of  vegetation,  tend  to  increase  and  pre- 
serve them, — may  be  inferred  from  several  indications. 

'  The  Amalekites,  who  contested  the  passage  of  the  desert  with  Israel, 


THE    ISRAELITES    IN   THE   DESERT.  129 

were — if  we  may  draw  an  inference  from  this  very  fact,  as  well  as  from 
their  wide-spread  name  and  power,  even  to  the  time  of  Saul  and  David, 
and  from  the  allusion  to  them  in  Balaam's  prophecy,  as  '  the  lirst  of  the 
nations,' — something  more  than  a  mere  handful  of  Bedouins.' 

Ans.  If  the  Pentateuch  be  mainly  unhistorical,  we  can  take  no  account 
of  the  power  of  the  Amalekites,  as  described  in  it.  In  the  story  of  Saul's 
dealing  with  them,  1  S.  xv.,  and  David's,  1  S.  xxx.,  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  they  were  any  other  than  a  powerful  Arab  tribe,  between  which 
and  Israel  there  was  a  deadly  feud. 

Besides,  did  the  Amalekites  live  in  the  desert  of  Sinai?  On  the  con- 
trary, we  have  the  express  statement  of  the  Prophet,  that  it  was  '  a  land 
that  no  man  passed  through,  and  where  no  man  dwelt,'  Jer.  ii.  6. 

(xi)  '  The  Egyptian  copper  mines  and  monuments,  and  hieroglyphics,  in 
Surabit-el-Khadim  and  the  Wady  Mughareh,  imply  a  degree  of  intercourse 
between  Egypt  and  the  peninsula  in  the  earliest  days  of  Egypt,  of  which  all 
other  traces  have  long  ceased.' 

Atis.  This  does  not  help  to  prove  in  any  way  that  two  millions  of  peo- 
ple, with  their  two  millions  of  sheep  and  oxen,  could  have  lived  under 
Sinai  for  twelve  months,  and  could  have  been  maintained  for  forty  years  in 
a  country,  which  was  then  described  as  '  a  desert  land,  a  waste  howling 
wilderness.'  Supplies  of  corn  were,  do  doubt,  forwarded  regularly  by  the 
king  of  Egypt  for  his  workmen ;  and  they  had  no  vast  flocks  and  herds 
that  we  know  of. 

(xii)  '  The  ruined  city  of  Edom,  in  the  mountains  east  of  the  Arabah, 
and  the  remains  and  history  of  Petra  itself,  indicate  a  traffic  and  a  popula- 
tion in  these  remote  regions,  which  now  seem  to  us  almost  inconceivable.' 

Ans.  But  Stanley  himself  writes,  p.  87  : — 

'  The  first  thing  that  struck  me,  in  turning  out  of  the  Arabah,  up  the 
defiles  that  lead  to  Petra,  was  that  we  had  suddenly  Irft  the  desert.  In- 
stead of  the  absolute  nakedness  of  the  Sinaitic  valleys,  wo  found  ourselves 
walking  on  grass,  sprinkled  with  flowers,  and  the  level  platforms  on  each 
side  were  filled  with  sprouting  corn.  And  this  continues  through  the 
whole  descent  to  Petra,  and  in  Petra  itself.' 

He  elsewhere  describes  Petra,  p.  94,  as  '  an  oasis  of  vegetation  in  the 
desert  hills.' 

There  was  a  reason,  therefore,  for  Petra  maintaining  a  certain  amount 
of  population  in  former  days,  as  it  might  do  now,  which  does  not  exist  for 
the  valleys  of  Sinai.  But,  even  then,  Petra  had  no  population  to  support 
like  that  of  Israel,  and  no  such  multitudinous  flocks  and  herds. 

(xiii)  '  And  even  much  later  times,  extending  to  the  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries  of  our  era,  exhibit  eigns  both  of  movements  and  habitations, 
6* 


130  THE   SHEEP    AND    CATTLE   OF 

which  have  long  ago  ceased,  such  as  the  writings  of  Christian  pilgrims  oa 
the  rocks,  whether  in  the  Sinaitic  character,  in  Greek,  or  in  Arabic,  as 
well  as  the  numerous  remains  of  cells,  gardens,  chapels,  and  churches,  now 
deserted  and  ruined,  both  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jebel  Musa  and  Serbal.' 

Ans.  But  the  fact  of  a  few  thousand  pilgrims  paying  a  passing  visit  to 
such  places,  bringing,  probably,  supplies  of  food  with  them,  or  of  a  num- 
ber of  monks  and  hermits  contriving  to  live  in  the  neighbourhood  of  one  or 
two  favoured  spots,  avails  little  to  show  how  Israel  could  have  lived  under 
Sinai  itself  for  so  many  months  together,  with  such  immense  flocks  and 
herds,  or  how  they  could  have  marched  to  and  fro  in  the  peninsula,  from 
station  to  station,  journeying  '  by  day  or  by  night,  when  the  cloud  waa 
taken  up,'  and  abiding  in  their  tents,  '  whether  it  were  two  days,  or  a 
month,  or  a  year,'  when  the  cloud  rested,  N.  ix.  18-23,  but  finding  all 
along  the  necessary  supplies  of  food,  and  wood,  and  water,  for  themselves 
and  their  cattle.  The  pilgrims  and  hermits  needed  only  to  find  their  own 
scanty  fare  ;  they  had  no  flocks  and  herds  as  the  Israelites. 

Canon  Stanley  adds  in  conclusion, — '  It  must  be  confessed  that  none 
of  these  changes  solve  the  difficulty,  though  they  may  mitigate  its  force. 
But  they,  at  least,  help  to  meet  it :  and  they  must  under  any  circumstances 
be  borne  in  mind,  to  modify  the  image,  which  we  form  to  ourselves,  of 
what  must  have  always  been — as  it  is  even  thus  early  described  to  be — '  a 
great  and  terrible  wilderness.' ' 

I  have  the  more  closely  examined  and  carefullj" 
weighed  the  above  arguments,  because  we  may  be  cer- 
tain that,  by  so  able  and  earnest  an  advocate,  every- 
thing has  been  said  that  MeW  could  be  said,  to  make  it 
in  any  way  credible  that  the  means  of  support  could 
have  been  found  for  so  large  a  body  of  cattle  in  the 
peninsula  of  Sinai,  without  a  special  miracle,  of  which 
the  Bible  says  nothing.  The  reader  will  be  able  to 
judge  for  himself  to  what  these  arguments  really 
amount,  even  when  most  fully  and  favourably  stated. 

86.  Before  passing  on,  it  may  be  well  to  quote  also, 
and  consider,  the  remarks  of  Kalisch  on  this  point, 
Exod.  p.  212,  213  :— 

'  The  following  circumstances  may  serve  to  obviate  the  objections  : — 
(i)  '  During  by   far   the  greater  part   of  the  period   of   forty  years 


THE   ISKAELITES   IN   THE   DESEKT.  131 

(thirty-six  years),  the  Israelites  lived  near  the  populous  Mount  Seir  and 
the  Ked  Sea,  where  they  could  not  fail  to  come  into  commercial  inter- 
course with  rich  nations  and  tribes,  which  provided  them  easily  (!) — [a 
population  as  large  as  that  of  London  !] — with  all  the  necessaries  of  life.' 

Ans.  The  Scripture-story  says  not  a  word  about  this  long  sojourn  near 
Mount  Seir  and  the  Red  Sea ;  at  least,  all  it  says  is  contained  in  D.  ii.  1  : 
'  Then  we  turned  and  took  our  journey  into  the  wilderness  by  the  way  of 
the  Red  Sea,  as  Jehovah  spake  unto  me  ;  and  we  compassed  Mount  Seir 
many  days.'  And,  certainly,  the  notion  of  the  Israelites  '  having  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  rich  nations  and  tribes,'  during  almost  all  the  time 
of  their  sojourn  in  the  '  waste,  howling  wilderness,'  the  '  land  that  none 
passed  through,  and  where  no  man  dwelt,'  is  utterly  opposed  to  the  ordi- 
nary view.  But,  supposing  that  we  admit  the  above,  we  should  still  have 
to  account  for  the  subsistence  of  the  flocks  and  herds  during  the  rest  of 
the  forty  years,  and  particularly  during  the  first  three  months,  and  during 
the  twelve  months  passed  under  Sinai. 

(ii) '  Nearly  a  whole  year  the  Israelites  encamped  in  the  fertile  (!)  region 
around  the  Siiiai,  where  the  air  is  pure  and  refreshing,  where  fountains 
abound  (I),  and  a  variety  of  game  is  found  (!),  see  N.  xi.  31,  [where  we 
find  an  account  of  the  miracle  of  the  gift  of  quails  !].' 

Ans.  We  reply  to  the  above  by  referring  to  Stanley's  description, 
quoted  above  (84)  of  the  valleys,  as  well  as  the  mountains,  of  Sinai,  whose 
'  general  character  is  entire  desolation,'  whose  '  usual  aspect  is  absolutely 
bare  and  waste,  only  presenting  the  image  of  thirsty  desolation  the  more 
strikingly,  from  the  constant  indications  of  water,  which  is  no  longer 
there.'  But,  supposing  that  we  granted  this  also,  we  should  still  have  to 
account  for  the  cattle  surviving  the  march  to  o^nd  from  Sinai. 

(iii)  '  Even  the  nomadic  Bedouins  are  still  now  in  the  habit  of  cultivating 
the  districts  which  appear  suitable  for  agriculture  ;  they  live  during  this 
time  in  tents,  and  change  their  abode  after  every  harvest.  Thus  several 
tribes  may  be  met  with  even  now,  Vt-hich  are  at  the  same  time  nomads  and 
agriculturists ;  and  nothing  forbids  us  to  suppose  the  same  practice  amoug 
the  Israelites,  during  their  sojourn  in  the  desert,  especially  as  some  parts 
of  the  peninsula  are  extremely  inviting  to  agriculture.' 

Ans.  To  any  ordinary  reader  the  story  forbids  the  supposition  that  the 
people  were  scattered  away  from  the  Sanctuary,  in  different  parties,  all 
over  the  peninsula.  Not  a  word  is  said  or  implied  of  such  dispersion  in 
the  Scripture ;  and  during  the  whole  time  which  the  Scripture  does  de- 
scribe, they  lived  in  one  body  together,  except,  of  course,  when  a  force 
was  detached  for  a  time  for  purposes  of  war,  as  the  12,000,  who  were  sent 


132  THE    SHEEP   AIID    CATl'LE   OF 

for  the  conquest  of  Midian,  N.  xxxi.  It  is,  therefore,  a  mere  arbitrary 
assumption,  opposed  to  all  the  indications  which  are  given  us  in  the  narra- 
tive. 

But  spots  of  verdure  which  might  be  cultivated  by  a  few  hundreds  of 
Arabs,  would  not  suffice  for  the  wants  of  two  millions  of  people.  And, 
even  if  they  did,  we  have  still,  as  before,  to  explain  how  the  sheep  and 
oxen  lived  on  in  the  dreary  waste. 

(iv)  '  The  Israelites  brought  numerous  herds  and  flocks  with  them  from 
Egypt,  which  furnished  them  with  clothes  and  food  of  various  kinds.  It 
is  natural  to  assume  that  they  did  not  neglect  the  breeding  of  cattle  on 
their  journeys ;  and  even  the  Biblical  narrative  leads  us  to  suppose  that 
especially  the  three  tribes  of  Reuben,  Gad,  and  Manasseh  remained  faithful 
to  their  former  occupations,  and,  as  proprietors  of  large  flocks  and  herds,  re- 
quested Moses  to  allot  them,  as  their  inheritance,  the  rich  districts  east  of 
the  Jordan,  with  their  fertile  pastures.' 

Ans.  But  this  involves  the  main  difficulty  itself,  viz.  how  were  these 
'  large  flocks  and  herds '  sustained  in  the  wilderness  ? 

(v)  '  The  Israelites  had  no  want  of  gold  and  silver,  and  other  precious 
property,  to  buy  from  the  commercial  caravans  which  traversed  the  desert, 
or  from  the  neighbouring  nations,  many  necessaries,  especially  corn, — a  fact 
which  is  clearly  alluded  to  in  D.  ii.  6.' 

Ans.  But  they  could  not  at  all  events  have  bought  grass.,  or  other  food, 
for  their  flocks  and  herds.  Even  D.  ii.  6  speaks  only  of  their  buying  from 
the  Edomites,  wlien  they  reached  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Seir.  As  to 
their  march  generally  during  the  forty  years,  it  is  described  as  a  march 
'through  the  wilderness,  through  a  land  of  deserts  and  pits,  through  a  land 
of  drought  and  of  the  shadow  of  death,  through  a  land  that  no  man  passed 
through^''— they  met  with  no  caravans^  therefore, — '  and  where  no  man 
dwelt,''  Jcr.  ii.  0. 

(vi)  ' It  is  universally  acknowledged  that  Aral)ia  Petra?a  was  formerly 
considerably  richer,  and  could  maintain  many  more  souls,  than  is  the  case 
in  its  present  neglected  state.  Various  circumstances  may  contribute  to  "the 
deterioration  of  a  country ;  and  Arabia  Petra?a  is  not  the  only  district  in 
which  such  an  unfavourable  change  has  taken  place' 

Aijs.  But  the  Bible  speaks  of  the  district  as  having  been  then,  in  the 
time  of  tlie  Exodus,  a  '  great  and  terrible  wilderness,  a  laud  of  drought  and 
of  the  shadow  of  death.' 

(vii)  '  The  tribes  may  cither  singly,  or  in  a  united  body,  have  made 
excursions  from  Kadesh  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  provisions.' 

Ans.  Then  they  must  have  found  their  way  out  of  the  wilderness:  it 


THE   ISRAELITES    IN   THE   DESEET.  133 

is  hardly  to  be  believed  that  they  would  have  returned  again  to  wander 
about  in  the  waste.  But,  at  all  events,  they  could  hardly  have  brought 
back  with  them,  from  such  excursions,  sufficient  supplies  of  fodder  to 
support  their  two  millions  of  live  stock. 

(viii)  '  It  is  well-known  that  the  inhabitants  of  these  climates  require 
comparatively  but  little  food  for  their  subsistence  and  the  support  of  their 
physical  strength.' 

Ans.  Is  the  same  true  of  the  sheep  and  oxen  of  these  climates?  Or 
rather,  can  they  live  on  year  after  year,  altogether  ivithout  any  supplies  of 
grass  and  water  ? 

(ix)  '  It  sufficed  perfectly,  if  the  Israelites  were  but  scantily  provided 
with  the  most  necessary  wants.  Abundance  or  superfluity  would  have  led 
them  away  from  their  great  aim,  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  especially  after 
so  long  wanderings;  whilst  the  scarcity  of  their  subsistence  kept  their 
longing,  after  their  better  and  permanent  abodes,  uninterruptedly  alive.' 

Ans.  Still  the  difficulty  remains  about  the  flocks  and  herds. 

(x)  '  Lastly,  if  all  these  natural  circumstances  combined  should  not  be 
deemed  sufficient  to  account  for  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  the  desert 
during  forty  years,  the  holy  text  informs  us  of  the  constant  supply  of  manna, 
a  nutritious  and  agreeable  food,  with  which  they  were  abundantly  furnished 
during  that  whole  period.' 

Ans.  But  the  s/iccp  and  oxen  could  not  live  upon  the  manna,  nor  could 
the  people  drink  it;  and  N.  xx.  5,  D.  vlii.  15,  show  that  the  water  from 
the  rock  did  not  follow  them  throughout  the  desert. 

Upon  the  whole  it  will  be  plain  that  Kalisch  adds  but  little  to  the 
number,  and  nothing  whatever  to  the  force,  of  Stanley's  arguments.  In- 
deed, he  himself  admits,  Exod.  p.  211,  in  direct  opposition  to  his  fourth 
argument  above, — 

'  After  the  people  had  wandered  a  whole  month  through  barren  dis- 
tricts, the  stores,  which  they  might  have  brought  with  them  from  Egypt, 
must  have  been  exhausted,  especially  as,  no  doubt,  a  great  part  of  their 
cattle  had  perished  on  the  inarch  (from  the  Bed  Sea)y/'o)H  thirst  and  want 
of  proper  food.'' 

87.  But  it  may  be  well  now  to  quote  one  or  two 
passages  from  other  writers,  which  yet  more  plainly 
devclope  the  absolute  barrenness  of  this  wild  and  deso- 
late region,  as  it  now  appears,  and,  as  we  have  every 


134  THE  SHEEP  AND  CATTLE  OF 

ground  from  the  Bible  itself  to  believe,  it  must  then 
have  appeared  also. 

In  icintery  when  the  whole  of  the  upper  Sinai  is  deeply  covered  with 
snow,  and  many  of  the  passes  are  choked  up,  the  mountains  of  Moses  and 
St.  Catherine  are  often  inaccessible.  Mr.  Fazakerly,  who  ascended  them 
in  the  month  of  February,  found  a  great  deal  of  snow,  and  the  ascent  was 
severe.  '  It  is  difficult,'  he  says,  '  to  imagine  a  scene  more  desolate  and 
terrific,  than  that  which  is  discovered  from  the  summit  of  Sinai.  A  haze 
Umited  the  prospect,  and,  except  a  glimpse  of  the  sea  in  one  direction, 
nothing  was  within  sight  but  snow,  huge  peaks,  and  crags  of  naked  granite.' 
Of  the  view  from  Mount  St.  Catherine  he  says,  '  The  view  from  hence  is  of 
the  same  kind,  only  much  more  extensive  than  from  the  top  of  Sinai.  It 
commands  the  two  gulfs  of  Akaba  and  Suez ;  the  island  of  Tiran  and  the 
village  of  Tur  were  pointed  out  to  us ;  Sinai  was  far  below  us  ;  all  the  rest, 
wherever  the  eye  could  reach,  was  a  vast  u'ikkrness,  and  a  confusion  of 
p-anite  7nomitains,  and  valleys  destitute  of  verdure.''  Coxder's  Modem 
Traveller,  Arabia,  p.  159,  160. 

88.  We  have  here  another  question  raised,  which  is 
not  generally  taken  into  consideration  at  all.  The 
Israelites,  according  to  the  story,  were  under  Sinai  for 
nearly  twelve  months  together,  and  they  kept  the  sec- 
ond Passover  under  the  mountain  before  they  left  it, 
N.  ix.  1.  As  this  was  in  the  first  month  of  the  Jewish 
ecclesiastical  year,  corresponding  to  the  latter  part  of 
March  and  beginning  of  April,  they  must  have  passed 
the  whole  of  the  winter  months  under  Sinai,  and  must 
have  found  it  hitterly  cold. 

In  the  mountainous  districts  it  is  very  cold  in  the  winter  nights.  Some- 
times the  water  in  the  garden  of  the  monastery  at  Saint  Catherine  freezes 
even  in  February.  And,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  summer  months,  the  sun 
pours  down  his  rays  burning  hot  from  heaven,  and  in  reflection  from  the 
naked  rocky  precipices,  into  the  sandy  valleys.  Ruppell,  quoted  in  Hexg- 
stenberg's  Balaam,  Clark's  Theol.  Library,  p.  338. 

Where,  then,  amidst  the  scanty  vegetation  of  the 
neighbourhood,  where  at  the  present  time  there  seems 
not  to  grow  a  single  tree  fit  for  firewood, — and  there  is 


THE    IsEAELITES    IN    THE   DESEEl .  135 

no  reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  ever  otherwise, — did 
the  Israelites  obtain  supplies  of  fuel,  not  only  for  the 
daily  cooking  necessities  of  a  population  like  that  of 
London,  but  also  for  relief  against  the  piercing  cold  of 
the  winter  season,  or  when,  as  Josephus  says,  Anf.  iii. 
7.  4,  '  the  weather  was  inclined  to  snow  ? '  And  the 
cattle, — unless  supplied  with  artificial  food,  must  they 
ncrt  also  have  perished  in  multitudes  from  cold  and 
starvation  under  such  circumstances  ?  We  find  this  to 
be  the  case  even  in  the  fertile  colony  of  Natal,  where 
in  some  winter  seasons  they  die  from  these  joint  causes 
in  great  numbers,  when  the  grass,  though  abundant,  is 
dried  up,  and  the  cold  happens  to  be  more  severe  than 
usual,  though  not  severe  enough  for  ice  and  snow,  ex- 
cept in  the  higher  districts,  and  then  only  for  about  a 
month  or  six  weeks  in  the  year. 

89.  If  the  last  quotations  describe  the  state  of  things 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  the  following  (in  addition  to 
the  words  of  Ruppell,  above  quoted)  will  convey 
some  idea  of  the  general  aspect  of  the  country  in  the 
heiffht  of  the  summer  season.  It  would  seem  that  trav- 
ellers  generally  choose  the  most  favourable  season  of  the 
year  for  visiting  these  desert  regions.  "We  must  make 
due  allowance  for  this  fact  also,  in  considering  even 
their  accounts  of  the  desolate  barrenness  of  the  whole 
district,  with  reference  to  the  story  told  in  the  Penta- 
teuch. 

BuRCKiiARDT  visited  TJra  Shaumcr,  the  loftiest  mountain  in  the  penin- 
sula, and  Avrites  of  the  scene  as  follows.  '  The  devastations  of  torrents 
are  everywhere  visible,  the  sides  of  the  mountains  being  rent  by  them  in 
numberless  directions.  The  surface  of  the  sharp  rocks  is  blackened  by  the 
sun;  all  vegetation  is  dry  and  withered;  and  the  whole  scene  presents 
nothing  but  utter  desolation  and  hopeless  barrenness.'  Condek's  Arabia, 
p.  199. 


& 


136  THE  SHEEP  AND  CATTLE  OF 

He  afterwards  travelled  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Sinai  eastward,  across 
the  peninsula,  to  the  gulf  of  Akaba.  But,  he  says,  '  the  barrenness  of 
this  district  exceeded  anything  we  had  yet  witnessed,  except  some  parts  of 
the  desert  of  El  Tih  [that  is,  the  desert  of  Sinai].  The  Nubian  valleys 
might  be  called  pleasure-grounds  in  comparison.  Not  the  smallest  green 
leaf  could  be  discovered.  And  the  thorny  mimosa,  which  retains  its  ver- 
dure in  the  tropical  deserts  of  Nubia  with  very  little  supplies  of  moisture, 
was  here  entirely  withered,  and  so  dry  that  it  caught  fire  from  the  lighted 
ashes  which  fell  from  our  pipes  as  we  passed.'     Conder's  Arabia,  p.  204. 

90.  As  to  the  little  spots  of  greater  luxuriance, 
•wliicli  are  found  here  and  there  in  the  Sinaitic  penin- 
sula, we  may  form  some  idea  of  their  character,  and  of 
the  fitness  of  any  one  of  them  to  sustain  even  for  a 
single  day  such  a  vast  multitude  of  cattle,  from  the 
following  description  by  Bueckhaedt  of  Wady  Kyd, 
'  one  of  the  most  noted  date-valleys  of  the  Sinai  Arabs.' 
This  valley  he  entered,  and  pursued  its  windings,  till 
he  came  in  an  hour's  time  to  a  small  rivulet,  two  feet 
across  and  six  inches  in  depth,  lohich  is  lost  imme- 
diately heloio  in  the  sands  of  the  Wady. 

It  drips  down  a  granite  rock,  which  blocks  up  the  valley,  there  only 
twenty  paces  broad,  and  forms  at  the  foot  of  the  rock  a  small  pond,  over- 
shadowed by  trees,  with  fine  verdure  on  its  banks.  The  rocks,  which 
overhang  it  on  both  sides,  almost  meet,  and  give  to  the  whole  the  appear- 
ance of  a  grotto,  most  delightful  to  the  traveller,  after  passing  through 
these  dreary  valleys.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  most  romantic  spot  I  have  seen  in 
these  mountains.  The  source  of  the  rivulet  is  half  an  hour  higher  up  the 
valley,  the  deep  verdure  of  which  forms  a  striking  contrast  with  the  glaring 
rocks,  showing  that,  wherever  water  passes  in  these  districts,  vegetation 
invariably  accompanies  it.  Beyond  the  spot,  where  the  rivulet  oozes  out 
of  the  ground,  vec/etatio?i  ceases,  and  the  valley  widens.  Notwithstanding 
its  verdure,  however,  Wady  Kyd  is  an  uncomfortable  halting-place,  on 
account  of  the  great  number  of  gnats  and  ticks,  with  which  it  is  infested. 
Ibid.  p.  218. 

Beai-ing  in  mind  that  two  millions  of  sheep  and 
oxen,  allowing  a  space  of  three  feet  by  two  feet  as 
standing  ground  for  each,  would  require,  w^hen  packed 


THE    ISRAELITES    IN    THE    DESEET.  137 

together  as  closely  as  in  a  pen  in  a  cattle-market,  near- 
ly 300  acres  of  land,  it  seems  idle  to  expend  more  time 
in  discussing  the  question,  whether  they  could  have 
been  supported  in  the  wilderness  by  the  help  of  such 
insignificant  wadies  as  these,  which  a  drove  of  a  hun- 
dred oxen  would  have  trampled  down  into  mud  in  an 
hour. 


CHAPTEK  Xni. 

ITHE    IfDMBER    OF    THE    ISRAELITES    COMPAKED    WITH    THE 
EXTENT   OF   THE   LAND   OF   CANAAN. 

91.  Iioill  send  my  fear  he/ore  thee,  and  loill  destroy 
all  the  ])eo^le  to  whom  thou  shalt  come,  and  I  will  Tnalie 
all  thine  enemies  turn  their  hacks  unto  thee.  And  I 
will  send  hornets  hefore  thee,  which  shall  drive  out  the 
Hivite,  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Ilittite,from  hefore  thee. 
I  will  not  drive  them  out  from,  hefore  thee  in  one  year, 
lest  the  land  hecome  desolate,  and  the  heast  of  the  field 
midtiply  against  thee.  By  little  and  little  I  will  drrive 
them  out  from  hefore  thee^  until  thou  he  increased  and 
inherit  the  land.     E.  xxiii.  27-30. 

The  whole  land,  which  was  divided  among  the 
tribes  in  the  time  of  Joshua,  including  the  countries 
beyond  the  Jordan,  was  in  extent  about  11,000  square 
miles,  or  7,000,000  acres.  (Kitto's  Geogr.  of  the  Holy 
Land,  KnigJifs  series,  p.  7.)  And,  according  to  the 
story,  this  was  occupied  by  more  than  two  millions  of 
people.  Now  the  following  is  the  extent  of  the  three 
English  agricultural  counties  of  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and 
Essex,  with  the  population  according  to  the  census  of 
1851 :— . 


NUMBEK   OF   ISRAELITES   AND   EXTENT   OF   CANAAN.      139 

Acres.  Pop.  in  1851. 

Norfolk  contains     .     .     .     1,354,301  ....     442,714 

Suffolk 947,681  .     .     .        337,215 

Essex 1,060,549  ....     369,318 


3,362,531  1,149,247 

By  doubling  tlie  above  results,  we  find  tliat  these 
counties  of  England  are,  at  this  very  time,  about  as 
thickly  peopled  as  the  land  of  Canaan  would  have 
been  with  its  population  of  Israelites  only,  without 
reckoning  the  aboriginal  Canaanites,  who  already  filled 
the  land, — '  seven  nations,  greater  and  mightier '  than 
Israel  itself,  D.  iv.  38,  vii.  1,  ix.  1,  xi.  23.  And  surely 
it  cannot  be  said  that  these  three  Eastern  Counties, 
with  their  flourishing  towns  of  Norwich,  Lynn,  Yar- 
mouth, Aylsham,  Cromer,  Thetford,  Wisbeach,  Bun- 
gay, Beccles,  Lowestoff,  Ipswich,  Southwold,  Bury  St. 
Edmunds,  Sudbury,  Woodbridge,  Harwich,  Colchester, 
Chelmsford,  Komford,  Maiden,  &c.,  and  their  innumer- 
able villages,  are  in  any  danger  of  lying  '  desolate,'  with 
the  beasts  of  the  field  multiplying  against  the  human 
inhabitants. 

92.  But,  perhaps,  a  still  better  comparison  may  be 
instituted  with  a  country,  which  resembles  in  many 
respects,  in  its  natural  features  and  other  circum- 
stances, the  state  of  Canaan  in  those  early  days.  The 
colony  of  Natal  has  an  extent  of  18,000  square  miles, 
and  a  population,  white  and  black  included,  probably 
not  exceeding  150,000  altogether.  This  population  is, 
of  course,  very  scanty,  and  the  land  will  allow  of  a 
much  larger  one.  Yet  the  human  inhabitants  are  per- 
fectly well  able  to  maintain  their  ground  against  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  And,  in  fact,  the  lions,  elephants, 
rhinoceroses,  and  hippopotami,  which  once  abounded 


140      NUIMBER    OF   ISEAELITES    AND   EXTENT   OF   CANAAN. 

in  the  conntiy,  have  long  ago  disappeared.  Leopards, 
wild  boars,  hyaenas,  and  jackals  are  killed  occasionally 
in  the  bush.  But  many  a  white  man  may  have  lived 
for  years  in  the  colony,  as  I  have  done,  and  travelled 
about  in  all  parts  of  it,  without  seeing  or  hearing  one. 
But  the  population  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  (2,000,000 
inhabitants  within  less  than  12,000  square  miles,) 
would  have  been  more  than  twenty  times  as  thick  as 
that  of  Natal,  (150,000  within  18,000,  or  100,000  with- 
in 12,000  square  miles.)  Natal,  in  fact,  should  have  a 
population  of  3,000,000  instead  of  150,000,  in  order  to 
be  compared  for  density  of  population  with  the  land  of 
Canaan,  according  to  the  story,  after  the  entrance  of 
the  Israelites,  without  reckoning  the  old  inhabitants. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

THE    NTJaCBEE   OF    THE   FIRST-BORNS    COMPARED   WITH    THE 
NUMBER   OF   MALE   ADULTS. 

93.  All  the  first-horn  males,  from  a  month  old  and 
upwards,  of  those  that  were  numbered,  were  twenty  and 
two  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  and  thirteen. 
K  iii.  43. 

Let  us  see  wliat  this  statement  implies,  when  treated 
as  a  simple  matter  of  fact.  For  this  purpose  I  quote 
the  words  of  Kurtz,  iii.  p.  209  : — 

If  there  were  GOO,  000  males  of  twenty  years  and  upwards,  the  whole 
number  of  males  may  be  reckoned  at  900,000,  [he  elsewhere  reckons 
1,000,000,]  in  which  case  there  would  be  only  one  first-born  to  forty-two 
[forty-four]  males.  In  other  words,  the  number  of  boys  in  every  family 
must  have  been  on  the  a.veva.ge  forty-two. 

This  will  be  seen  at  once  if  we  consider  that  the 
rest  of  the  900,000  males  were  not  first-borns,  and, 
therefore,  each  of  tliese  must  have  had  one  or  other  of 
the  22,273  as  the  first-born  of  his  own  family, — except, 
of  course,  any  cases  where  the  first-born  of  any  family 
was  a  daughter,  or  was  dead,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
presently. 

And  these  were  not  the  first-born  on  the  father'' s 
side,  as  Michaelis  supposes,  so  that  a  man  might  have 


142  THE   NUMBER   OF   THE   FIRST-BORNS 

many  wives  and  many  children,  but  only  one  first- 
born, as  was  the  case  with  Jacob  himself.  They  are 
expressly  stated  to  have  been  the  first-born  on  the 
mother's  side — '  all  the  first-born  that  openeth  the 
matrix,'  N.  iii.  12.  So  that,  according  to  the  story  in 
the  Pentateuch,  every  mother  of  Israel  must  have  had 
on  the  average  forty-two  sons  ! 

94.  How  then  is  this  difficulty  to  be  explained? 
Kurtz  says : — 

'  We  must  enquire  whether  there  are  no  other  means — (than  that  sug- 
gested by  MiCHAELis,  which  the  Scripture  will  not  allow,  as  Kurtz 
admits, — )  of  explaining  the  fact,  that,  on  an  average,  there  was  only  one 
first-born  to  forty-two  males. 

And   Kurtz  is  bold   enough  to  say,    '  There  are 
plenty  ; '  and  proceeds  to  state  them  as  follows  : — 

(i)  '  The  first  is  the  rarity  of  polygamy,  which  lessened  the  proportion 
of  the  first-born.' 

Ans.  Kurtz  means  to  say  that  if  polygamy  had  prevailed  among  them, 
the  difficulty  would  have  been  enormously  uicreased,  and,  as  he  says  hhu- 
self,  'rendered  perfectly  colossal.'  For,  in  that  case,  if  a  man  had  had 
four  wives,  and  had  had  children  by  each  of  them,  he  must  have  had  on 
the  average  forty-two  sons  by  each.  So,  then,  the  rarity  of  polygamy, 
(which,  indeed,  Kurtz  assumes  without  proof,)  does  not  at  all  help  to  lessen 
the  difficulty  already  existing  in  the  incredible  statement,  that  every  mother 
in  Israel  had,  on  the  average,  forty-two  male  children. 

(ii)  '  A  second  is  the  large  number  of  children  to  whom  the  Israelitisii 
mothers  gave  birth.' 

Ans.  This,  again,  is  assumed  without  proof,  or  rather,  directly  in  the 
face  of  all  the  facts  which  are  given  us,  by  which  to  judge  of  the  size  of 
the  Hebrew  families.  We  have  no  reason  whatever  to  suppose,  from  the 
data  which  we  find  in  the  Pentateuch,  that  the  mothers  of  Israel  were 
prolific  in  any  unusual  degree.  We  read  of  one,  two,  three,  &c.  sons, 
just  as  in  ordinary  families,  occasionally  of  six  or  seven,  once  of  ten, 
G.  xlvi.  21,  but  not  of  an  average  of  ten,  or  fifteen,  or  twenty.  The  aver- 
age in  G.  xlvi  is  five  sons,  and  in  E.  vi  it  is  three.  And,  as  regards  daugh- 
ters, all  the  indications  are  against  their  being  as  numerous  even  as  the 
sons.      Jacob  had  only  one  daughter,  G.  xlvi.  15 ;  Asher  had  only  one. 


COMPAEED   WITH  THE   NUMBER   OF   MALE   ADULTS.     143 

G.  xlvi.  1*7;  Amram  had  only  one,  N.  xxvi,  59  ;  Zelophehad  hadj??'e,  but  no 
Bons,  N.  xxvi.  33. 

(iii)  'Thirdly,  tho  constantly  recurring  expression,  'Every  first-born 
that  openeth  the  worob,'  warrants  the  conclusion,  that  the  first-born  of  the 
father  was  not  reckoned,  unless  he  was  also  the  first-born  of  the  mother.' 

Ans.  This  would  only  apply  to  a  very  small  number  of  cases,  where  a 
man  had  married  a  woman,  who  had  borne  children  before  he  married  her, 
and  who  had,  therefore,  been  a  widow  or  a  harlot. 

But,  in  point  of  fact,  it  does  not  affect  the  present  question  at  all.  The 
womaTi's  first-born  will  still  have  been  numbered,  whoever  the  father  was. 
And  the  result  is,  as  before,  that  there  are  reckoned  only  22,2*73  first-born 
sons  of  all  the  mothers  of  Israel,  after  one  or  other  of  whom  the  other 
males  must  all  be  ranged  in  their  respective  families,  (except,  as  before, 
cases,  where  the  first-born  of  a  family  was  either  a  female  or  was  dead,)  so 
that  each  mother  must  have  had  on  the  average  forty-two  sons. 

(iv)  'Fourthly,  it  leads  also  to  the  still  more  important  assumption, 
that,  if  the  first-born  was  a  daughter,  any  son,  that  would  be  born  after- 
wards, would  not  be  reckoned  at  all  among  the  first-borns.  Now  statistical 
tables  show  that  the  first-born  is  more  frequently  a  female  than  a  male.' 

Ans.  But  in  the  case  of  the  Hebrews,  according  to  the  story  in  the 
Pentateuch,  (whatever  may  be  the  case  generally,)  the  first-born  was  much 
more  frequently  a  male  than  a  female.  We  have  the  instances  of  Abra- 
ham, and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  Jacob's  twelve  sons,  (except  Asher,  who 
had  a  daughter  before  going  into  Egypt,  and  she  may  have  been  his  first-born 
child,)  in  each  of  which  the  first-born  was  a  male.  Amram's  first-born, 
indeed,  was  a  daughter,  and  Zelophehad  had  only  daughters.  As  far,  how- 
ever, as  we  have  any  data  to  guide  us,  we  should  be  justified  in  assuming 
that  the  number  of  the  first-born  males  far  exceeded  that  of  the  females. 

But  lot  us  suppose  that  they  were  even  equal  in  number, — that,  in 
short,  besides  the  22,273  first-born  males,  there  were  also  22,273  first-born 
females.  This,  however,  will  not  by  any  means  get  rid  of,  or  at  all  dimin- 
ish, the  essential  difficulty  of  the  question  now  before  us:  it  will  only 
change  the  form  of  it.  For,  having  now  brought  in  the  idea  of  the  daugh- 
ters, we  must  remember  that,  if  there  were  900,000  [1,000,000]  males, 
there  must  have  been  about  as  many  females.  And  44,546  first-born  chil- 
dren among  a  population  of  1,800,000,  would  imply  that  each  mother  had, 
on  the  average,  forty-two  children,  as  before,  but  twenty-one  sons  and 
twenty-one  daughters. 

(v)  '  Lastly,  such  of  the  first-born,  as  were  themselves  heads  of  families, 
were  not  reckoned  at  all  as  first-born,  who  had  to  be  redeemed,  but  only 
their  boob.' 


144  THE   NUaCBEK   OF   THE   FIEST-BOKNS 

Ans.  This  is  a  pure  assumption,  and  unwarranted  by  anything  that  is 
found  in  the  Scripture.  The  command  in  N.  iii.  40  is,  '  Number  all  the 
first  born  of  the  males,  from  a  month  old  and  upward.'  Hence,  says 
Kurtz,  very  justly,  'if  there  had  been  any  age,  beyond  which  the  number- 
ing was  not  to  go,  [or,  we  may  add,  any  class  of  persons,  such  as  heads  of 
families,  who  were  to  be  excepted  from  it,]  it  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  mentioned  here.     But  there  is  nothing  of  the  Iviud.' 

Have  we  any  reason  to  suppose  that  the  first-born  son  of  an  Egyptian 
was  exempt  from  death,  because  he  was  the  head  of  a  family  ?  He  was 
the  first-born  to  his  father,  and  therefore  died,  according  to  the  story  in 
Exodus,  'from  the  first-born  of  Pharaoh  that  sat  on  his  throne,  unto  the 
first-born  of  the  captive  that  was  in  the  dungeon,'  so  that  '  there  was  not  a 
house  where  there  was  not  one  dead.'     E.  xii.  29,  30. 

Besides,  it  seems  to  be  implied  that  the  22,273  first-borns  were  intended 
to  include  all  the  first-born  males  of  all  ages,  whether  married  men  and 
heads  of  families,  or  not,  from  the  simple  fact,  that  the  22,000  male 
Levites,  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  '  from  a  month  old  and  upward,'  whether 
heads  of  families  or  not,  were  substituted  for  22,000  of  the  first-borns 
'  from  a  month  old  and  upward,'  the  remaining  273  first-borns  being  re- 
deemed with  money,  N.  iii.  39,  45,  46. 

95.  Thus  not  one  of  Kurtz's  '  many  ways '  of  re- 
lieving this  difficulty  is  really  of  any  use  whatever  for 
that  purpose.  There  is,  indeed,  one  point,  though  he 
has  not  noticed  it,  which  might  help  slightly  to  dimin- 
ish it.  In  some  families  the  first-horn  may  have  died 
before  the  numbering ;  some,  too,  Avho  were  born 
about  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Moses,  may  have  been 
killed  by  the  order  of  Pharaoh.  And,  if  all  those, 
who  may  have  thus  died,  be  reckoned  with  the  22,273,- 
the  proportion  of  the  remaining  males,  to  be  placed 
under  each  of  the  first-born,  will  be  somewhat  altered. 
Still  we  cannot  suppose  any  unusual  mortality  of  this 
kind,  without  checking  in  the  sauie  degree  the  increase 
of  the  people.  Let  us,  however,  reckon  that  one  out  of 
four  first-borns  died,  so  that  instead  of  44,546  first- 
borns, male  and  female,  there  would  have  been,  if  all 
had  lived,  about  60,000.     But  even  this  number  of 


COMPAKKD   WITH   THE   NUMBEK   OF  MALE   ADULTS.      145 

first-borns,  for  a  population  of  1,800,000,  would  imply- 
that  each  mother  had  on  the  average  thirty  children, 
fifteen  sons  and  fifteen  daughters.  Besides  whicli,  the 
number  of  mothers  must  have  been  the  same  as  that 
oi  \hQ  first-horns^  male  and  female,  including  also  any 
that  had  died.  Hence  there  would  have  been  only 
60,000  child-bearing  women  to  600,000  men,  so  that 
only  about  one  man  in  ten  had  a  wife  or  children  ! 

96.  The  following  is  the  account  which  Haveenick 
gives  of  this  matter.  Pent.  p.  308. 

(i)  '  The  proper  solution  of  this  difficulty  is  that  of  J.  D.  Michaelis, 
that  this  statement  supplies  a  proof  that  at  that  time  polygamy  must  have 
prevailed  to  an  wiusrial  extent  amongst  the  Israelites,  and  a  like  conclu- 
sion is  supplied  by  the  genealogies  in  Chronicles ;  comp.  especially  1  Ch. 
vii.  4,  '  for  they  had  many  wives  and  sons.'  For,  in  that  case,  the  propor- 
tion of  the  first-born  to  the  other  children  is  regulated  by  the  Hebrew- 
usage,  that  the  first-born  must  be  such  on  the  father's  as  well  as  the 
mother's  side;  see  G.  xlix.  3,  4,  N.  i.  20,  D.  xxi.  15-17,  Ps.  cv.  30.' 

Ans.  Kurtz,  as  we  have  seen  (94),  rejects  this  supposition  of  Michae- 
Lis,  as  inconsisftent  with  the  Scripture  and  wholly  untenable.  There  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  polygamy  did  prevail  at  that  tune  among  the  He- 
brews ;  in  1  Ch.  vii.  4,  the  polygamy  in  the  case  of  the  '  sons  of  Issachar ' 
appears  to  belong  to  the  time  of  David,  v.  2,  and  is  spoken  of  rather  as  the 
exception  than  the  rule.  The  '  Hebrew  usage '  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
present  question.  We  are  here  only  concerned  with  '  all  the  first-born, 
whatsoever  openefh  the  womb^^  E.  xiii.  2,  '  being  males,'  v.  15.  What  is 
the  use  of  quoting  such  passages  as  G.  xlix.  3,  '  Reuben,  thou  art  my  first- 
born,' N.  i.  20,  '  Reuben,  Israel's  eldest  son,'  Ps.  cv.  36,  '  He  smote  also 
all  the  first-born  in  the  land,'  or  D.  xxi.  15-17,  where  the  tna/i's  first-born 
is  '  not  to  be  disinherited  upon  private  affection '  ? 

(ii)  '  That  this  also  related  to  purchasing  exemption  from  Priestly  ser- 
vice, is  clear  from  E.  xxii.  29,  '  the  first-born  of  thy  sons  shalt  thou  give 
unto  me,'  and  E.  xxxiv.  20,  '  All  the  first-born  of  thy  sons  thou  shalt  re- 
deem,' where,  of  course,  only  one  of  the  sons  can  be  thought  of  as  the  pri- 
mogeyiilus.'' 

Ans.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  in  these  passages  only  the  first- 
born by  one  wife  is  intended,  more  especially  as  they  must  be  explained  by 
such  words  as  those  in  E.  xiii.  12,  13,  'Thou  shalt  set  apart  unto  Jehovak 
7 


146  THE   NUMBEK   OF   THE   FIKST-EOKJSS 

all  that  openeth  the  matrix  .  .  .  the  males  shall  be  Jehovah's  .  .  .  and  all 
the  first-born  of  man  among  thy  children  shalt  thou  redeem.' 

(iii)  '  The  meaning  must  also  not  be  restricted  by  the  phrase  that  is  fre- 
quently subjoined,  '  that  openeth  the  matrix ;'  for  this  addition  is  to  give 
prominence  to  primogeniture  on  the  maternal  side.  This  latter,  however, 
alone  could  not  make  one  the  first-born  of  the  family ;  for  that,  being  the 
first-born  on  the  father's  side  was  also  an  essential  requisite.' 

Ans.  If  we  were  to  suppose,  contrary  to  the  plain  statements  of  the 
Bible,  that  only  those  were  reckoned  who  were  first-borns  on  the  father^s 
as  well  as  the  mother'' s  side,  yet  even  then,  while  the  impossibility  would  be 
removed  of  each  mother  bearing  forty-two  children,  there  would  remain 
the  improbability  of  each /«</«?>•  on  the  average  having  forty-two  children, 
when  there  is  not  the  slightest  indication  of  any  such  fecundity  in  the 
story. 

(iv)  '  Accordingly,  it  is  only  from  this  passage  that  a  conclusion  can  be 
drawn  as  to  the  historical  condition  of  the  people,  which  is  confirmed  also 
by  notices  elsewhere.' 

I  am  wholly  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  above  para- 
graph. 

97.  BuNSEN  {Bibl.  JaJirb.  p.  ccclxi-ccclxiv)  admits 
tlie  difficulty  existing  in  the  Scripture  statement,  of 
which,  he  says,  '  no  satisfactory  explanation  has  ever 
yet  been  given.'  His  own  mode  of  explanation  is  as 
follows  : — 

He  considers  that  the  command  to  dedicate  the  first-born  males  to  Je- 
hovah was  intended  to  prevent  among  the  Hebrews  the  practice  of  sacri- 
ficing them  to  Moloch,  which  he  speaks  of  as  common  among  the  Syrian 
tribes.  And  he  suggests,  therefore,  that  the  first-borns  were  numbered, 
'  from  a  month  old  and  upward '  up  to  six  or  seven  years  only,  which  he 
supposes  to  be  the  age  at  which  such  children  were  sacrificed. 

Ans.  (i)  Something  would  surely  have  been  said  about  the  age  being 
limited  to  six  or  seven  years,  if  that  had  been  intended. 

(ii)  The  expression  '  from  a  month  old  and  upward,'  which  is  used  of 
the  first-borns  in  N.  iii.  40,  43,  is  used  also  in  the  very  same  chapter,  v.  15, 
22,  28,  34,  39,  of  the  whole  body  of  male  Levites,  and  certainly  with- 
out any  idea  of  such  limitation.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  very 
same  expression  is  employed  in  two  successive  verses,  v.  39,  40,  with  such 
very  different  meanings  attached  to  it,  and  without  the  least  intimation  of 
any  such  a  difference. 


COMPAEED    WITH   THE   NUJIBER   OF   MALE    ADULTS.      147 

98,  The  Rev.  T.  Scott  lias  another  way  of  exphxin- 
ing  the  difficulty  : — 

The  fi -st-born  in  any  company  must  in  general  amount  to  at  least  one 
in  eio^ht  or  ten ;  whereas  the  number  here  mentioned  was  scarcely  one  in 
fifty  of  all  the  males,  young  and  old  ;  for  there  were  above  600,000  adults, 
and,  perhaps,  almost  as  many  under  age.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  none 
were  numbered,  but  those  who  had  been  born  after  the  destruction  of  the 
first-born  of  Egypt.  This,  indeed,  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  law, 
which  referred  to  the  future,  and  not  to  the  p«.s<,  E.  xiii.  2  ;  and  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  firstlings  of  the  cattle  were  thus  reckoned.  Indeed,  45,000 
of  both  sexes,  which  is  rather  more  than  double  the  first-born  males,  seems 
a  vast  number  of  first-born  children  within  the  space  of  one  year.  But, 
upon  reflection,  we  shall  find  it  to  be  by  no  means  improbable  that  among 
1,200,000  persons  of  both  sexes,  who  were  above  twenty  years  of  age,  (and 
many  might  marry  much  younger  than  that  age,)  there  should  be  within 
that  time  50,000  marriages, — that  is,  about  the  twelfth  part  of  the  com- 
pany of  marriageable  persons  of  each  sex.  Especially,  if  we  consider  that 
multitudes  miglit  be  inclined  to  marry,  when  they  found  that  they  were 
about  to  enjoy  liberty :  and  when  they  recollected  that  the  promises  made 
to  Israel  peculiarly  respected  a  very  rapid  increase,  and  that  there  would, 
doubtless,  be  a  very  great  blessing  upon  them  in  this  respect. 

Ans.  (i)  The  reason  here  assigned,  for  an  extra  number  of  marriages 
at  the  time  of  their  leaving  Egypt,  is  very  far-fetched.  Immediately  before 
the  last  great  plague,  they  had  asked  only  to  go  a  three  days'  journey  into 
the  wilderness,  to  sacrifice  unto  Jehovah,  E.  v.  3,  x.  24-26;  and?*/)  to  that 
time  they  had  no  assurance  of  immediate  and  permanent  deliverance  from 
their  state  of  bondage. 

(ii)  After  that  time  it  is  inconceivable  that  these  extra  marriages  took 
place  in  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  the  first  three  months,  (since  the  chil- 
dren, according  to  Scott,  were  now  born,  at  the  time  of  the  numbering,  at 
the  end  of  the  first  year,)  during  that  distressing  march  through  the  wilder- 
ness of  Sin  to  Sinai. 

(iii)  It  would  be  far  more  reasonable  to  say  that,  as  they  expected  at 
that  time  to  march  directly  into  the  Promised  Land,  any,  that  wished  to  be 
married,  would  be  likely  to  put  off  their  wedding-joys  till  a  more  con- 
venient season,  and,  if  the  young  people  were  eager  for  matrimony,  their 
judicious  parents  would  be  likely  to  restrain  their  impetuosity. 

(iv)  If,  therefore,  these  45,000  first-borns  of  both  sexes  were  born  dur- 
ing the  year  after  they  left  Egypt,  we  must  consider  that  they  were  rather 
under,  than  over,  the  annual  average. 


148     KL'MBEKS   OF   FIEST-BOENS   AND   ADULTS   COMPARED. 

(t)  But  these  axe  first-borns  only,  and,  according  to  Scott  himself,  the 
whole  number  of  births  must  be  eight  or  ten  times  as  great,  say  400,000, 
in  order  to  maintain  the  proper  proportion  of  the  number  of  first-borns  to 
that  of  the  whole  population.  Whereas,  in  the  city  of  London,  the  whole 
number  of  births  in  a  week  is  about  1,852  ;  and  therefore,  in  a  year,  only 
96,304  ! 

(vi)  But  what  decides  the  question  at  once  is,  that  there  is  not  the 
slightest  intimation  given  in  the  story,  N.  iii.  40-43,  that  these  first-borns 
were  to  be  only  those  that  were  born  after  the  death  of  the  first-born  in 
Egypt.  On  the  contrary  we  are  told,  '  Moses  numbered,  as  Jehovah  com- 
manded him,  all  the  first-born  among  the  children  of  Israel.' 

99.  By  this  time,  surely,  great  doubt  mnst  hare 
arisen,  in  the  mind  of  most  readers,  as  to  the  his- 
torical veracity  of  sundry  portions  of  the  Pentateuch. 
That  doubt,  I  believe,  will  be  confirmed  into  a  certain 
conviction,  by  its  appearing  plainly  from  the  data  of 
the  Pentateuch  itself,  that  there  could  not  have  been 
any  such  population  as  this,  to  come  out  of  Egypt, — in 
other  words,  that  the  children  of  Israel,  at  the  time  of 
the  Exodus,  could  not,  if  only  we  attend  carefully  to 
the  distinct  statements  of  the  narrative,  have  amounted 
to  two  millions, — that,  in  fact,  the  whole  body  of  war- 
riors could  not  have  been  two  thousand. 

In  order,  however,  to  show  this  more  clearly,  we 
must  first  premise  a  few  considerations,  which  are  set 
forth  in  the  two  following  chapters. 


CHAPTER   Xy. 

THE    SOJOURNING    OF    THE    ISRAELITES    IN    EGYPT. 

100.  Now  the  sojoiuming  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  four  hundred  and  thirty 
years.     E.  xii,  40. 

The  question,  which  we  have  here  to  consider,  is 
this, — To  what  '  sojourning'  do  the  above  words  refer, 
— whether  to  that  of  Jacob  and  his  descendants  in  the 
Land  of  Egypt  only,  or  to  the  entire  sojourning  of  them 
and  their  forefathers,  Abraham  and  Isaac,  '  in  a  strange 
land,'  botli  in  Canaan  and  Egypt,  from  the  time  when 
the  promise  of  old  was  given  to  Abraham,  and  he 
'  sojourned  in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in  a  strange 
country,'  Heb.  xi,  9  ? 

The  verse  above  quoted,  as  it  stands  in  the  E.  Y., 
does  not  decide  the  Cjuestion. 

But  there  is  evidently  something  unusual  and  awk- 
ward in  the  manner,  in  which  the  phrase,  '  who  dwelt 
in  Egypt,'  enters  into  the  above  passage.  And,  in  fact, 
the  original  words  would  be  more  naturally  translated, 
(as  in  the  Yulgatc,  Chald.,  Syr.,  and  Arab.  Ycrsions,) 
'  the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  they 
sojourned  in  Egypt^  but  for  the  serious  difficulties 
which  would  thus  arise. 


150      THE   SOJOUKNING   OF   THE   ISRAELITES   IN   EGYPT. 

101.  In  the  first  place,  St.  Paul,  referring  to  ^  tlie 
covenant,  that  was  confirmed  before  of  God '  unto 
Abraham,  sajs,  '  the  Law,  which  was/bz^r  hundred  and 
thirty  years  after^  cannot  disannul  it,'  Gal.  iii.  17.  It 
is  plain,  then,  that  St.  Paul  dates  the  beginning  of  the 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  not  from  the  going  down 
into  Egypt,  but  from  the  time  of  the  promise  made  to 
Abraham. 

102.  Again,  in  E.  vi.  16-20,  we  have  given  the 
genealogy  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  as  follows  : — 

'  These  are  the  names  of  the  sons  of  Levi,  according 
to  their  generations,  Gershon,  and  Kohath,  and  Me- 
rari.  And  the  years  of  the  life  of  Levi  were  a  hundred 
thirty  and  seven  years. 

'  And  the  sons  of  Kohath,  Amram,  and  Izhar,  and 
Hebron,  and  Uzziel.  And  the  years  of  the  life  of  Ko- 
hath were  a  hundred  thirty  and  three  years. 

'  And  Amram  took  him  Jochebed,  his  father's 
sister,  to  wife ;  and  she  bare  him  Aaron  and  Moses. 
And  the  years  of  the  life  of  Amram  were  a  hundred 
thirty  and  seven  years? 

Now  supposing  that  Kohath  was  only  an  infant^ 
when  brought  down  by  his  father  to  Egypt  with  Jacob, 
G.  xlvi.  11,  and  that  he  begat  Amram  at  the  very  end 
of  his  life,  when  133  years  old,  and  that  Amram,  in 
like  manner,  begat  Moses,  when  he  was  137  years  old, 
still  these  two  numbers  added  to  80  years,  the  age  of 
Moses  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus,  E.  vii.  7,  would  only 
amount  to  350  years,  instead  of  430. 

103.  Once  more,  it  is  stated  in  the  above  passage, 
that  '  Amram  took  him  Jochebed,  his  father's  sister,' 
— Kohath's  sister,  and  therefore,  Levi's  daughter, — '  to 
wife.'      And  so   also   we  read,   N.   xxvi.   59.      '  The 


THE    SOJOUENINO   OF   TKE   ISRAELITES    IN    EGYPT.       151 

name  of  Amram's  wife  was  Jochebed,  the  daughter  of 
Levi,  ivhom  {her  mother^  Ijare  to  hlni  in  Egijpt.'' 

Now  Levi  was  one  year  older  than  Jndah,  and  was, 
therefore,  43  years  old  (20),  when  he  went  down  with 
Jacob  into  Egypt ;  and  we  are  told  above  that  he  was 
13T  years  old,  when  he  died.  Levi,  therefore,  must 
have  lived,  according  to  the  story,  94  years  in  Egypt. 
Making  here  again  the  extreme  supposition  of  his  be- 
getting Jochebed  in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  she  may 
have  been  an'  infant  94  years  after  the  migration  of 
Jacob  and  his  sons  into  Egyj)t.  Hence  it  follows  that, 
if  the  sojourn  in  Egypt  was  430  years,  Moses,  who 
was  80  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus,  must  have 
been  born  350  years  after  the  migration  into  Egypt, 
when  his  mother,  even  on  the  above  extravagant  sup- 
position, must  have  been  at  the  very  least  256  years 
old. 

104.  It  is  plain,  then,  that  the  430  years  are  meant, 
as  St.  Paul  understood,  to  be  reckoned  from  the  time 
of  the  call  of  Abraham,  when  he  yet  lived  in  the  land 
of  Haran.  Thus,  reckoning  25  years  from  his  leaving 
Haran,  G.  xii.  4,  to  the  birth  of  Isaac,  xxi.  5,  60  years  to 
the  birth  of  Jacob,  xxv.  26,  130  years  to  the  migration 
into  Egypt,  xlvii.  9,  we  have  215  years  of  sojourning  in 
the  land  of  Canaan,  leaving  just  the  same  length  of 
time,  215  years,  for  the  sojourn  in  the  land  of  Egy2)t. 

Tliis  will  agree  better  with  the  statements  made 
above  as  to  the  birth  of  Moses,  though  even  then  not 
without  a  strain  upon  one's  faith.  Tims  Moses  was  born 
80  years  before  the  Exodus,  or  135  years  after  the  migra- 
tion into  Egypt.  And  Levi  may  have  had  Jochebed 
born  to  him,  (as  Abraham  had  Isaac,)  when  100  years 
old,  that  is  to  say,  57  years  after  the  migration  into 


152     THE   SOJOUENING   OF  THE   ISRAELITES   IN   EGYPT. 

Egypt,  since  lie  was  at  tliat  time  43  years  old  (103)  ; 
in  which  case  Jochebed  would  have  been  78  years  old 
when  she  bare  Moses,  younger,  therefore,  by  12  years 
than  Sarah  at  the  birth  of  Isaac,  G.  xvii.  17. 

105.  "We  must  conclude,  then,  that  the  translation 
in  the  English  Bible  of  E.  xii.  40,  however  awkwardly  it 
reads,  is  correct  as  it  stands,  if  the  Ilehreio  words  them- 
selves are  correct^  as  they  appear  in  all  manuscript  and 
printed  copies  of  the  Pentateuch. 

The  LXX,  however,  and  the  Samaritan  Version, 
insert  a  few  words,  which  are  either  a  gloss  to  make 
the  meaning  of  the  passage  more  plain,  or  else  are  a 
translation  of  words,  which  existed  in  those  copies  of 
the  Hebrew  Bible,  which  were  used  for  those  Versions, 
though  not  found  in  our  own.  The  Vatican  copy  of 
the  LXX  renders  the  passage  thus :  '  Tlie  sojourning 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  they  sojourned  in  Egypt 
and  in  the  land  of  Canaan^  was  430  years.'  The 
Alexandrian  has,  '  The  sojourning  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  which  they  and  their  fathers  sojourned  in  Egypt 
and  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  was  430  years.'  The 
Samaritan  has, '  The  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel 
and  of  their  fathers,  which  they  sojourned  in  the  land 
of  Canaan  and  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  was  430  years.' 

In  fact,  during  all  those  430  years,  Abraham  and 
his  seed  were,  according  to  the  story,  sojourning  as 
strangers  '  in  the  land  of  promise  as  in  a  strange  land,' 
• — ^in  a  land  which  '  was  not  their  own,'  but  for  the 
present  '  the  possession  of  the  Gentiles.' 

106.  And  this  agrees  also  substantially  with  the 
I3romise  in  G.  xv.  13-16,  which  is  quoted  by  St. 
Stephen,  Acts  vii.  6  :  '  Know  of  a  surety  that  thy 
seed  shall  be  a  stranger,  in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and 


THE   SOJOURNING   OF   THE   ISRAELITES    IN   EGYl'T.     153 

shall  serve  them,  and  they  shall  afflict  them,  four  hun- 
dred years.  And  also  that  nation,  whom  they  shall 
serve,  will  I  judge;  and  afterwards  they  shall  come  out 
with  great  substance.  And  thou  shalt  go  to  thy  fathers 
in  peace  ;  thou  shalt  be  buried  in  a  good  old  age.  But 
in  the  fourth  generation  they  shall  come  hither  again  ; 
for  the  iniquity  of  the  Amorites  is  not  yet  full.' 

At  first  sight,  indeed,  it  would  seem  from  the  above 
that  Abraham's  descendants  were  to  be  afflicted  for  400 
years,  in  one  land,  such  as  Egypt,  by  one  nation.  But 
it  is  certain  that  they  were  Qiot  afflicted,  according  to 
the  story,  during  all  the  time  of  their  sojourn  in  Egypt. 
And  hence  it  appears  that  the  time  here  specified,  400 
years,  is  meant  to  refer  to  the  time  during  which  the 
'  Seed  of  Abraham  '  should  be  sojourners  in  a  strange 
land,  rather  than  to  the  oppression,  which  they  were 
to  suffer  during  some  part  of  that  sojourning.  They 
lived  as  '  pilgrims  and  strangers '  in  the  land  of 
Canaan  ;  and  they  were  at  times,  no  doubt,  much  more 
uncomfortable  among  the  people  of  that  land,  G.  xxvi, 
15-21,  xxxiv,  than  they  were  in  Egypt  during  the 
seventy  years  while  Joseph  yet  lived  (110),  and,  we 
may  suppose,  for  some  time  after  his  death. 

107.  We  conclude,  then,  that  the  400  years  in  the 
above  passage  are  meant  to  date  from  the  birth  of 
Isaac,  '  Abraham's  seed,'  from  which  to  the  Exodus 
there  may  be  reckoned,  as  in  (104),  405,  or,  in  round 
numbers,  400,  years.  If,  indeed,  we  suppose  that  five 
years  may  be  considered  to  have  elapsed,  after  Abram 
was  called  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  before  he  reached  the 
land  of  Canaan,  during  which  interval  God  '  brought 
liira  out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,'  G.  xv.  7,  and  '  he  came 
out  of  the  laud  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  dwelt  in  Charran, 
7* 


154     THE   SOJOUENING   OF   THE   ISKAELITES    IN   EGYPT. 

and  from  tlience,  after  liis  father's  death,  God  removed 
him  into  the  land  of  Canaan,'  Acts  vii.  4, — we  shall 
have  exactly  400  years  from  the  birth  of  Isaac  to  the 
Exodus,  and  the  sojourn  in  Egypt  will  be  210,  instead 
of  215,  years,  by  which  the  difficulties  still  existing 
(104),  with  respect  to  the  birth  of  Moses,  will  also  be 
somewhat  relieved.     [See  also  the  latter  part  of  (110).] 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

THE   EXODUS   IN   THE   FOURTH   GENERATION. 

108.  Again,  when  it  is  said,  G.  xv.  16,  '  in  the 
fourth  generation  they  shall  come  hither  again,'  this 
can  only  mean  '  in  the  fourth  generation,'  reckoning 
from  the  time  when  they  should  leave  the  land  of 
Canaan,  and  go  down  into  Egypt.  Thus  we  tind  Moses 
and  Aaron  in  the  fourth  generation  from  the  time  of 
the  migration,  viz.  Jacob — Levi — Kohath — Amram — 
Aaron.  Or,  as  Jacob  was  so  aged,  and  Moses  and 
Aaron  also  were  advanced  m  life  beyond  the  military 
age,  we  may  reckon  from  those,  as  Levi,  who  went 
down  into  Egypt  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  then  the  gen- 
eration of  Joshua,  Eleazar,  &c.,  in  the  prime  of  life,  will 
be  the  fourth  generation. 

109.  Accordingly,  if  we  examine  the  different  gene- 
alogies of  remarkable  men,  which  are  given  in  various 
j)laces  of  the  Pentateuch,  we  shall  find  that,  as  a  rule, 
the  contemporaries  of  Moses  and  Aaron  are  descendants 
in  the  third,  and  those  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar  in  the 
fourth  generation,  from  some  one  of  the  so)is,  or  adult 
grandso7is,  of  Jacob,  who  went  down  with  him  into 
Egypt.     Thus  we  have  : — 


156 


THE  EXODUS  IN  THE  FOUKTH  GENERATION. 


1st  Gen.  2d  Gen.          Sd  Gen.  4th  Gen.  5th  Gen. 

Levi Kohath  Amram  Moses  E.  vi.  16, 18,  20. 

Levi Kohath  Amram  Aaron  —  ....      E.  vi.  16,  18, 20. 

Levi Kohath  Uzziel  Mishael  ....  ....      L.  i.  4. 

Levi Kohath  Uzziel  Elzaphan  ....            L.  x.  4. 

Levi Kohath  Izhar  Korah  ....  ....       N.  xvi.  1. 

Eeuben . .  .Pallu  Eliab  Dathan  N.  xxvi.  7-9. 

Keuben.  ..Pallu  Eliab  Abiram  ....  ....       N.  xxvi.  7-9. 

Zarah Zabdi  Carmi  Achan  Jo.  vii.  1. 

Pharez Hezron  Earn  Amminadab  Nahshon  ....       Euth  iv.  IS,  19. 

Pharez....Hezron  Segub  Jair  1  Ch.  ii.  21, 22. 

Pharez.. . .  Hezron  Caleb  Hur  Uri  Bezaleel  1  Ch.  ii.  18-20. 

In  the  last  instance,  Bezaleel  is  in  the  fifth  genera- 
tion from  Pharez.  Perhaps,  he  was  a  jonng  man, 
and  was  reckoned  in  the  generation  next  to  that  of 
Joshua  :  and,  in  fact,  Josephus,  Ant.  iii.  6.  1,  calls  him 
the  '  grandson  of  Miriam,'  who  is  regarded  by  Jewish 
tradition  as  the  wife  of  Hur.  Thus  he  would  have  been 
a  contemporary  of  Phinehas,  the  grandson  of  Aaron, — 
not  of  his  son,  Eleazar.  Besides,  Hezron,  as  well  as  his 
father,  Pharez,  was  born,  according  to  the  story,  in  the 
land  of  Canaan  ;  so  that  Bezaleel  was  actually  still  in  the 
fourth  generation  from  one  who  went  down  into  Egypt. 

110.  Again,  we  are  told  that  the  children  of  Machir, 
the  son  of  Manasseh,  were  brought  up  xv^ou  Jose2:»h's 
knees,  G.  1.  23.  Hence,  as  Joseph  v/as  39  years  old, 
when  Jacob  came  down  to 'Egypt  (20  note),  and  died 
at  the  age  of  110,  G.  1.  22,  having  lived,  therefore,  71 
years  after  that  event,  Ave  may  assume  that  Machir's. 
son,  Gilead,  was  born  about  70  years  after  the  migra- 
tion, and  we  read  of  '  Zelophehad,  the  son  of  Hepher, 
the  son  of  Gilead,'  whose  daughters  came  to  Moses  for 
land,  and  who  died  in  the  wilderness,  IN",  xxvii.  1-3. 

In  fact,  if  the  sojourn  in  Egypt  had  lasted  430  years, 
instead  of  210  or  215,  then  360  years  must  have  inter- 
vened between  the  birth  of  Gilead  and  the  Exodus ; 
and  we.  should  have  to  suppose  that  Gilead  had  a  son, 


THE  EXODUS  IN  THE  FOUKTH  GENEKATION.     157 

Hepher,  when  180  years  old,  and  lieplier  also  liad  a 
son,  Zeloplieliad,  when  180  years  old,  that  so  Zelophehad 
might  even  have  been  born  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus, 
and  been  able  to  have  full-grown  daughters,  as  the  story 
implies,  at  the  end  of  the  forty  years'  wanderings. 

111.  The  above  include  all  the  instances,  which  I 
have  been  able  to  find,  where  the  genealogies  are  given 
in  the  Pentateuch  itself. 

But  in  1  Ct.  vii.  22-27  we  have  a  remarkable  exception  to  the  above 
rule,  where  we  find  the  genealogy  of  Joshua  given  as  follows : — '  Joshua, 
the  son  of  Nun,  the  son  of  Elishama,  the  son  of  Ammihud,  the  son  of  Laa- 
dan,  the  son  of  Tahan,  the  son  of  Telah,  the  son  of  Rcphah,  the  son  of 
Beriah,  the  son  of  Ephraim,' — that  is  to  say,  Joshua  is  given  in  the  ninth 
generation  from  Ephraim,  or  the  tenth  from  Joseph. 

Upon  this  I  would  first  remark  as  follows. 

(i)  This  is  an  exception  to  the  rule,  which  prevails  iiniversally  in  the 
Pentateuch. 

(ii)  We  are  not  here  concerned  with  the  books  of  Chronicles,  (^which 
says  Scott,  '  it  is  generally  agreed  were  compiled  by  Ezra,'  rather,  perhaps, 
by  the  same  author  who  wrote  the  book  of  Ezra,  but  which  were  certainly 
composed  long  after  the  Captivity,)  but  with  the  narrative  in  the  Penta- 
teuch itself  and  book  of  Joshua,  and  must  abide  by  the  data  which  they 
furnish. 

(iii)  The  book  of  Chronicles  itself  exhibits  the  rule  of  the  Pentateuch  in 
other  cases,  as  in  that  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  vi.  1-3,  Korah,  vi.  37,  38, 
Achan,  ii.  4,  6,  7,  Nahshon,  ii.  9,  10,  Bezaleel,  ii.  18,  20,  Jair,  ii.  21,  22. 

It  is  strange,  then,  that  in  this  single  instance  of  Joshua  there  should  be 
so  remarkable  a  variation  from  the  general  rule. 

112.  Let  us  now,  liowever,  examine  more  closely 
this  statement  in  the  book  of  Chronicles. 

Since  Joseph  '  saw  Ephraim's  children  of  the  third  generation,'  G.  1.  23, 
Telah,  one  of  these,  may  have  been  born  about  seventy  years  after  the  mi- 
gration into  Egypt  (110). 

We  have  no  express  statement  of  the  age  of  Joshua  at  the  time  of  the 
Exodus.  But  we  may  suppose  it  to  have  been  about  the  same  as  that  of 
Caleb,  the  son  of  Jephunneh,  with  whom  he  is  so  often  coupled  ;  and  Caleb 
was  forty  years  old,  when  sent  to  spy  the  land  at  the  end  of  the  first  year 
after  the  Exodus.     Jo.  xiv.  7.     We  may,  therefore,  adopt  the  estimate  of 


158  THE   EXODUS    EST   THE   FOURTH   GENEKATION. 

JosEPuus,  Ant  V.  1.  29,  who  reckons  the  age  of  Joshua  as  forty-five  at 
the  time  of  the  Exodus.  This  will  agree  well  with  tlic  fact,  that,  shortly  after 
leaving  Egypt,  while  still  young  enough  to  be  the  '  minister  '  or  servant  of 
Moses,  E.  xxiv.  13,  he  was  old  enough  also  to  command  the  host  oi  Israel 
in  the  fight  against  Amalek,  E.  xvii.  9,  10. 

Hence  since  the  Exodus  took  place  215  years  at  most  after  the  migra- 
tion into  Egypt,  there  must  have  intervened  between  the  bir(h  of  Telah 
and  that  of  Joshua  215 — 70-45,  that  is,  100  years;  so  tbat,  according  io 
the  chronicler,  there  must  have  been  six  complete  generations  in  100  vears, 
which  is  hardly  credible. 

Again,  according  to  the  chronicler,  '  Elishama,  the  son  oi  Ammihud,' 
was  the  grandfather  of  Joshua.  But  'Elishama,  the  son  of  Ammihud,' 
was  himself  the  captain  of  the  host  of  Ephraim,  N.  n.  18,  about  a  year  after 
his  grandson,  Joshua,  had  commanded  the  whole  Hebrew  force  which 
fought  with  Amalek,  E.  xvii.  S-16,  which  also  is  hardly  credible. 

113.  But,  iu  truth,  the  account  of  Joshua's  descent 
in  1  Ch.  vii.  involves  a  palpable  contradiction. 

Thus,  in  v.  24,  we  are  told  tbat  Ephraim's  daughter  built  two  villages  in 
the  land  of  Canaan.  If  we  suppose  this  to  mean  that  the  descendants  of 
Ephraim's  daughter,  after  the  conquest  in  the  time  of  Joshua,  did  this,  yet 
in  V.  22,  23,  we  have  this  most  astonishing  fact  stated,  that  Ephraim  himself, 
after  the  slaughter  by  the  men  of  Gath  of  his  descendants  in  the  seventh 
generation,  '  mourned  many  days,'  and  then  married  again,  and  had  a  son, 
Beriah,  who  was  the  ancestor  of  Joshua !  This  Beriah,  however,  is  not 
named  at  all  among  the  sons  of  Ephraim  in  the  list  given  iu  N.  xxvi.  35. 

KiTTO  remarks  upon  this  point,  Hist,  of  the  Jcics,  p.  146  : — 

'  It  is  impossible  that  Ephraim  should  have  been  then  alive  to  mourn  over 
the  seventh  generation  of  his  descendants.  Read  '  Zabad '  for  '  Ephraim,' 
and  all  becomes  intelligible.' 

This  is,  of  course,  mere  conjecture,  and  it  does  not  by  any  means  dis- 
pose of  the  difficulty :  for,  by  this  correction,  as  a  little  consideration  will 
show,  Joshua  will  be  made  a  descendant  in  the  seventeenth  generation  from 
Joseph,  to  associate  with  Eleazar  m  the  fourth  generation  from  Levi. 

Khenen,  §  33.  9,  suggests  that  the  expression  '  and  his  son,'  when  occur- 
ring in  a  genealogy,  should  be  distinguished  from  '  his  son,'  the  former  only 
indicating  an  additional  son  of  the  father  last  spoken  of,  one  (or  more)  of 
whose  sons  has  been  named  already ;  so  that,  in  other  words,  the  former 
phrase  expresses  a  brother  of  the  person  last  mentioned,  while  the  latter 
denotes  his  so«.  Thus,  in  1  Ch.  vii.  20,  the  expression  '  and  the  sons  of 
Ephraim,  Shuthelah,  and  Bered  his  son,  and  Tahath  his  son,  &c.,'  means 


THE  EXODUS  IN  THE  FOURTH  GENEEATIOI..     159 

only  that  Bered,  Tahath,  &c.,  as  well  as  Shuthelah,  were  sons  of  Ephraim, 
and  brothers  of  one  another.  This  would  make  the  men  whom  '  Ephrahn 
their  father  mourned,'  to  be  his  own  sons,  and  would  at  once  get  rid  of  this 
particular  contradiction. 

Any  remark  of  this  most  able  and  impartial  critic  deserves  full  consid- 
eration.    In  reply,  therefore,  to  the  above  suggestion, — 

(i)  I  point  to  1  Ch.  ix.  43,  '  and  his  son  Rephaiah,'  compared  with  the 
parallel  passage,  viii.  37,  'his  sou.  Kapha;' 

(ii)  According  to  Kuenen,  the  eight  persons  named,  in  vii.  20,  21,  would 
all  be  brothers,  and  among  them  are  two  Shuthelahs,  and  two  Tahaths, 
which  can  hardly  have  been  the  case  in  the  same  fiimily  of  brethren. 

(iii)  Further,  if  Kuenen's  view  were  true,  those  named  in  v.  23,  25, 
Beriah,  Eephah,  Resheph,  Telah,  Tahan,  would  also  be  the  sons  of  Ephraim 
for  a  similar  reason,  and  Joshua  would  be  only  in  the  sLvth  generation 
from  Ephraim.  Joseph  would  now  have  seen  the  birth  of  Ephraim's  great- 
grandson  Aimnihud,  G.  1.  23,  between  whose  birth  and  that  of  Joshua  there 
would  be  an  interval  of  100  years  (110):  and  this  is  quite  long  enough  to 
allow  of  the  three  generations,  Ammihud  Elishama,  Nun,  Joshua.  The 
result  thus  arrived  at  would,  therefore,  perfectly  agree  with  our  other  data : 
but,  for  the  reasons  above  given,  we  cannot  assent  to  Kuenen's  suggestion. 

Upon  the  whole  it  is  plain  that  we  are  justified  in 
dismissing  the  whole  account  in  the  book  of  Chronicles, 
about  the  genealogy  of  Joshua,  as  most  probably  erro- 
neous, and,  at  all  events,  of  no  importance  whatever  in 
opposition  to  so  many  testimonies  from  the  Pentateuch 
and  from  the  Chronicles  itself,  all  tending  to  the  same 
result. 

114.  We  conclude,  then,  that  it  is  an  indisputable 
fact,  that  the  story,  as  told  in  the  Pentateuch,  intends 
it  to  be  understood — (i)  that  the  children  of  Israel  came 
out  of  Egypt  about  215  years  after  they  went  down 
thither  in  the  time  of  Jacob, — (ii)  that  they  came  out  in 
the  fourth  generation  from  the  adults  in  the  prime  of 
life,  who  went  down  with  Jacob. 

And  it  should  be  observed  that  the  second  of  these 
conclusions  does  not  in  any  'way  dejpend  iipon  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  former. 


160     THE  EXODUS  IN  THE  FOURTH  GENERATION. 

Upon  this  point  Josephus  writes,  Ant.  ii.  9.  1  : — 

Four  hundred  years  did  they  spend  under  these  afflictions ;  for  they 
Btrove  one  against  the  other  which  should  get  the  mastery,  the  Egyptians 
desiring  to  destroy  the  Israehtes  by  their  labours,  and  the  Israelites  desir- 
ing to  hold  out  to  the  end  under  them. 

But,  of  conrse,  the  last  words  of  the  above  can  only 
refer  to  the  last  portion  of  their  sojourn  in  Ejyjyt^  since 
they  were  not  struggling  with  the  Egyptians  till  after 
Joseph's  death,  at  all  events.  And  so  writes  Josephus 
again,  Ant.  ii.  15.  2  : — 

They  left  Egypt  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  our  forefather 
Abraham  came  into  Canaan,  but  two  hundred  and  fifteen  years  only  after 
Jacob  removed  into  Egypt. 

And  he  writes  of  Moses,  Ant.  ii.  9.  6  : — 

Abraham  was  his  ancestor  of  the  seventh  generation. 

And  so  he  says  of  Joseph,  Against  Apion,  i.  33  : — 

He  died  four  generations  before  Moses,  which  four  generations  make 
almost  170  years. 

And  Archd.  Pratt  observes.  Science  and  Scripture, 
p.  78 :— 

It  was  to  be  in  the  fourth  generation  that  his  seed  were  to  return  to 
Canaan.  But  430,  or  even  400,  years  is  very  much  longer  than  four  gen- 
erations, and  therefore  must  include  something  besides  the  bondage  in 
Egypt,  viz.  the  sojourning  in  Canaan.  His  prediction  regarding  the  '  fourth 
generation'  was  literally  fulfilled.  Moses  and  Aaron  were  sons  of  Joche- 
bed,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Levi,  N.  xxvi.  59,  a  text  which  incidentally 
confirms  the  correctness  of  our  general  outline.  Eleazar,  the  Priest,  the 
son  of  Aaron,  was,  therefore,  of  the  fourth  generation  from  Jacob  [?  Levi]. 
He  returned  to  Canaan  and  died  there,  his  father,  Aaron,  and  that  genera- 
tion, having  died  in  the  wilderness. 

115.  From  this  it  can  be  shown,  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  it  is  quite  impossible  that  there  should  have  been 
such  a  inimber  of  the  peojDle  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  at  the 


THE   EXODUS   IN  THE   FOURTH    GENERATION.  161 

time  of  the  Exodus,  as  to  have  furnished  600,000  war- 
riors in  the  prime  of  life,  representing,  at  least,  two 
millions  of  persons,  of  all  ages  and  sexes, — that  is  to  say, 
it  is  impossible,  if  we  will  take  the  data  to  he  derived 
from  the  Pentateuch  itself. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE  NTIMBEE  OF  ISRAELITES  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  EXODUS. 

116.  In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  observed,  as  al- 
ready noted,  that  we  nowhere  read  of  any  very  large 
families  among  the  children  of  Jacob  or  their  descend- 
ants to  the  time  of  the  Exodus.  We  may  suppose,  in 
order  that  we  may  have  the  population  as  large  as  pos- 
sible, that  very  few  died  prematurely,  and  that  those, 
who  were  born,  almost  all  lived  and  multiplied.  But 
we  have  no  reason  whatever,  from  the  data  furnished 
by  the  Sacred  Books  themselves,  to  assume  that  they 
had  families  materially  larger  than  those  of  the  present 
day.  Thus  we  are  told  in  G.  xlvi  that  Reuben  liad  4 
sons,  Simeon  6,  Levi  3,  Judah  5,  Issachar  4,  Zebulun  3, 
Gad  7,  Aslier  4,  Joseph  2,  Benjamin  10,  Dan  1,  IsTaph- 
tali  4.  It  is  certainly  strange  that,  among  all  the  69 
children  and  grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren  of 
Jacob,  who  went  down  with  him  into  Egypt,  there 
should  be  only  one  daughter  mentioned,  and  one  grand- 
daughter. The  very  numbering  of  these  two  among 
the  '  seventy  souls  '  shows  that  the  females  '  out  of  the 
loins  of  Jacob  '  were  not  omitted  intentionally. 

117.  Some,  indeed,  have  suggested  that  these  two 
only  were  inserted,  because  they  were  either  notorious 


NUMBEK   OF   ISRAELITES   AT   THE   EXODUS.  163 

already  as,  Dinah,  or  may  have  become  notorious  in 
after  clays,  as  may  possibly  have  been  the  case  with 
Asher's  daughter,  Serah,  v.  17,  tliongh  the  Bible  says 
nothing  about  it.  But  it  is  plain  that  this  is  only  per- 
verting the  obvious  meaning  of  the  Scripture  in  G.  xlvi. 
It  is  certain  that  the  writer  intends  it  to  be  understood 
that  these  seventy  were  the  only  persons,  and  these  two 
the  only  females,  who  had  at  that  time  been  born  in  the 
family  of  Jacob.  And,  though  the  fact  itself,  of  this 
wonderful  preponderance  of  males,  may  seem  very 
strange,  and  would  be  so  indeed  in  actual  history,  it  is 
only  another  indication  of  the  unhistorical  character  of 
the  whole  account.  For  the  present,  however,  we  may 
admit  it  as  2)ossihle  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  there 
should  have  been,  at  first  at  all  events,  such  a  prepon- 
derance of  males,  and  even  prohdble,  if  the  house  of 
Israel  was  to  increase  with  extraordinary  rapidity. 

118.  Tlie  twelve  sons  of  Jacob,  then,  as  appears 
from  the  above,  had  between  them  53  sons,  that  is,  on 
the  average  4|-  each.  Let  us  suppose  that  they  in- 
creased in  this  way  from  generation  to  generation. 
Then  in  the^V^^  generation,  that  oi  KoTiaiJi.,  there  would 
be  54  males,  (according  to  the  story,  53,  or  rather  only 
51,  since  Er  and  Onan  died  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  v.  12, 
without  issue,) — in  the  second^  that  of  Amram^  243, — in 
the  third,  that  of  Hoses  and  Aai^on,  1,094, — and  in  the 
fourth,  that  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar,  4,923  ;  that  is  to 
say,  instead  of  600,000  warriors  in  the  prime  of  life, 
there  could  not  have  been  5,000. 

Further,  if  the  numbers  of  all  the  males  in  the  four 
generations  be  added  together,  (which  supposes  that 
they  were  all  living  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus,)  they 
would  only  amount  to  6,311.     If  we  even  add  to  these 


164  THE   NUMBEE   OF   ISRAELITES 

the  number  of  the  fifth  generation,  23,154,  who  would 
be  mostly  children,  the  sum-total  of  males  of  all  genera- 
tioDs  could  not,  according  to  these  data,  have  exceeded 
28,465,  instead  of  being  1,000,000. 

119.  But  in  the  above  we  have  tacitly  assumed  that 
each  man  had  daughters  as  well  as  sons.  There  must 
have  been  females  born  in  the  family  of  Jacob  as  well 
as  males  ;  and  the  females  must  have  been  as  numerous 
as  the  males,  if  we  are  to  suppose  that  all  the  males  had 
families  as  above.  '  Jacob's  sons'  wives,'  it  is  true,  are 
spoken  of  in  G.  xlvi.  26,  as  not  being  out  of  his  loins. 
But,  with  the  story  of  Isaac's  and  Esau's  and  Jacob's 
marriages  before  us,  we  cannot  suppose  that  the  wives 
of  the  sons  of  Jacob  generally  were  mere  lieathens. 
Judah,  indeed,  took  a  Canaanitish  woman  for  his  wife 
or  concubine,  G.  xxxviii.  2,  But  we  must  not  infer 
that  all  the  other  brothers  did  likewise,  since  we  find  it 
noted,  as  a  special  fact,  that  Simeon  had,  besides  his 
other  five  sons,  '  Shaul,  the  son  of  a  Canaanitish 
woman,'  G.  xlvi.  10.  Joseph,  again,  compelled  by  the 
peculiarity  of  his  situation,  married  an  Egyptian  lady, 
whom  Pharaoh  gave  hun  to  wife,  G.  xli.  45.  The  other 
brothers,  we  may  suppose,  obtained  their  wives,  as  their 
fathers,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  did  before  them,  from  their 
relations  in  Haran. 

120.  But,  however  this  may  have  been,  we  must 
suppose  that  in  Egypt, — at  all  events,  in  their  later 
days,  for  a  hundred  years  or  more,  from  th(}  time  that 
their  afflictions  began, — such  friends  were  not  acces- 
sible. We  must  conclude,  then,  that  they  either  took 
as  wives  generally  Egyptian  heathen  women,  or  else 
intermarried  with  one  another.  The  former  alterna- 
tive is  precluded  by  the  whole  tone  and  tenor  of  the 


AT   THE   TIME   OF   THE   EXODUS.  165 

narrative.  As  the  object  of  the  king  was  to  keep  down 
their  numbers,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  he  would 
allow  them  to  take  wives  freely  from  among  his  own 
people,  or  that  the  women  of  Egypt,  (at  least,  those  of 
the  generation  of  Amram,  which  gave  birth  to  Moses, 
and  after  it,)  would  be  willing,  generally,  to  associate 
their  lot  with  a  people  so  abject  and  oppressed  as  the 
Plebrews.  Besides,  we  are  told  expressly  that,  in  child- 
birth, '  the  Hebrew  women  were  not  as  the  Efjyptian 
women,'  E.  i.  19,  by  which  it  is  plainly  implied  that 
the  wives  of  the  Hebrews  were  also  Hebrews. 

The  narrative  itself,  therefore,  requires  us  to  suppose 
that  the  Hebrew  families  intermarried,  and  that  girls, 
as  well  as  boys,  were  born  to  them  fi'eely  in  Egypt, 
though  not,  it  would  seem  (117),  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

121.  Yet  we  have  no  ground  for  supposing,  from 
any  data  which  we  lind  in  the  narrative,  that  the  whole 
number  of  the  family  was  on  that  account  increased. 
On  the  contrary,  Zelophehad  hadj^V(3  daughters,  but  no 
sous,  N.  xxvii.  1 ;  Amram  had  two  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter, N.  xxvi.  59  ;  Moses  had  two  sons  and  no  daughter, 
E.  xviii.  3,  4 ;  Aaron  had  four  sons  and  no  daughter, 
N".  xxvi.  60  ;  Izliar,  Amram's  brother,  had  three  sous, 
E.  vi.  21,  Uzziel  had  three  sons,  E.  vi.  22,  Korah  had 
three  sons,  E.  vi.  24,  Eleazar  had  one  son,  E.  vi.  25.  In 
the  last  four  cases  we  cannot  say  whether,  or  not,  there 
were  any  daughters.  But,  if  we  take  all  the  families 
given  in  E.  vi.  14-25,  together  with  the  two  sons  of 
Moses,  we  shall  find  that  there  are  13  persons,  who 
have  between  them  39  sons,  which  gives  an  average  of 
3  sons  each.  This  average  is  a  fairer  one  to  take  for 
our  purpose  than  the  former ;  because  these  persons 
lived  at  all  difi'erent  times  in  the  interval,  between  the 


166  THE   NUMBER   OF   ISRAELITES 

migration  into  Egypt  and  the  Exodus.  "We  may  sup- 
pose, also,  that  the  average  of  children  is  still  as  large 
as  before,  or  even  larger,  so  that  each  man  may  have 
had  on  the  average  six  children,  three  sons  and  three 
daughters  ;  since  the  females  appear  to  be  omitted  pur- 
posely in  E.  vi,  (as  we  see  by  the  omission  of  Amram's 
daughter,  Jochebed,)  though  they  could  not  have  been 
omitted  in  G.  xlvi,  as  we  have  seen  above. 

122.  Supposing  now  the  51  males  (118)  of  the  first 
generation  (Kohath's)  to  have  had  each  on  the  average 
three  sons,  and  so  on,  we  shall  find  the  number  of  males 
in  the  second  generation  (Amram's)  153,  in  the  third 
(Aaron's)  459,  and  in  the  fourth  (Eleazar's)  1377, — in- 
stead of  600,000. 

In  fact,  in  order  that  the  51  males  of  Kohath's  gen- 
eration might  produce  600,000  fighting  men  in  Joshua's, ' 
we  must  suppose  that  each  man  had  46  children  (23  of 
each  sex),  and  each  of  these  23  sons  had  46  children, 
and  so  on  ! — of  which  prolific  increase,  it  need  hardly 
be  said,  there  is  not  the  slightest  indication  in  the  Bible, 
except,  indeed,  in  the  statement  of  the  number  of  the 
first-borns,  which  has  been  already  considered. 

123.  Bishop  Patkick  suggests,  note  on  E.  i.  Y,  that 
the  Hebrew  women  might,  by  '  extraordinary  blessing 
of  God,'  have  brought  forth  '  six  children  at  a  time ' ! 
It  is  plain  that  he  felt  very  strongly  the  difliculty  raised 
by  the  Scripture  statement,  and  did  not  consider  how 
this  fecundity  would  afiect  the  Hebrew  loomen^  as  re- 
gards either  the  hirtJi^  or  the  rearing,  of  the  children. 

To  the  same  efi'ect  writes  Kalisch,  Exod.  p.  2  : — 

We  easily  concur  in  the  opinion  tbat  the  Hebrew  women  gave  birth  to 
more  than  one  child  at  a  time,  (Eben-Ezra,  tuins,  Rashi,  six  children.) 
That  this  was  not  uncommon  in  Egypt  we  learn  from  Aristotle,  Hist. 


AT  THE   TIME   OF  THE   EXODUS.  167 

Anim.  vii.  4 :  '  Often  the  women  bring  forth  (icins,  as  in  Egypt.  They  even 
give  birth  to  (Iiree  or  four  children  at  a  time ;  nor  is  this  of  rare  occur- 
rence. But  Jive  is  the  highest  number,  and  there  have  been  instances  of 
such  fruitfulness.'  Pliny,  JVat.  Hist.  vii.  8,  observes,  '  That  three  are  born 
at  a  birth  is  undoubted :  to  bear  above  that  number  is  considered  as  an 
extraordinary  phenomenon,  except  in  Egypt.' 

But  the  Scripture  implies  no  such  fecundity  among 
the  Hebrews,  either  in  G.  xlvi,  or  in  E.  vi,  or  in  E.  i. 
19,  where  the  midwives  say  of  the  Hebrew  women, 
'  they  are  delivered  ere  the  'midwives  come  in  unto 
them^ — ■which  could  hardly  have  been  said,  if  three  or 
four  children  were  often  born  at  a  time. 

124.  In  1  Ch.  ii.  34,  35,  we  read  that  Sheshan,  a  descendant  of  Judah  in 
the  ninth  generation,  'had  a  servant,  om Egyptian,  whose  name  was  Jarha 
and  Sheshan  gave  his  daughter  to  Jarha  his  servant  to  wife,  and  she  bare 
him  Attai,'  whose  descendants  are  then  traced  down  through  twelve  gener 
ations,  and  are  reckoned,  apparently,  as  Israelites  of  the  tribe  of  Judah 
From  this  it  would  seem  that  Hebrew  girls  might  be  married  to  foreigners, 
— we  may  suppose,  proselytes, — and  their  children  would  then  be  reckoned 
as  '  children  of  Israel.'  It  is  obvious  that  such  cases  would  be  compara- 
tively rare.  But  let  us  suppose  that  each  man  had  six  children  as  in  (121) 
three  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  that  even  half  the  daughters  of  Israel 
were  married  to  foreign  proselytes,  —  a  most  extravagant  supposition, 
This  would  be  equivalent  to  reckoning  that  each  man  had  on  the  average — 
not  3  sons,  but — 4^,  as  in  (118).  And  the  total  number  of  warriors  in 
the  fourth  generation,  resulting  from  51  progenitors,  would,  as  before,  not 
amount  to  5,000. 


CHAPTEE  XYIII. 

THE   DANITES  AND   LEVITES    AT   THE   TIME   OF   THE   EXODUS. 

125.  When",  however,  we  go  on  further  to  examine 
into  the  details  of  this  large  number  of  male  adults,  the 
results  will  be  found  yet  more  extravagant. 

Thus  Dan  in  the  first  generation  has  one  son,  IIusli- 
im,  G.  xlvi.  23  ;  and,  that  he  had  no  more  born  to  him 
in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and,  therefore,  had  only  one  son, 
appears  from  I^.  xxvi.  42,  where  the  sons  of  Dan  con- 
sist of  only  one  famil}^.  Hence  we  may  reckon  that  in 
the  fourth  generation  he  would  have  had  27  warriors 
descended  from  him,  instead  of  62,700,  as  they  are 
numbered  in  K.  ii.  26,  increased  to  64,400  in  N. 
xxvi.  43. 

In  order  to  have  had  this  number  born  to  him,  we 
must  suppose  that  Dan's  one  son,  and  each  of  his  sons 
and  grandsons,  must  have  had  about  80  children  of  both 
sexes. 

We  may  observe  also  that  the  offspring  of  the  one 
son  of  Dan,  62,700,  is  represented  as  nearly  double  that 
of  the  ten  sons  of  Benjamin,  35,400,  N.  ii.  23. 

126.  Again  we  have  in  E.  vi.  the  genealogy,  before 
quoted,  of  the  three  sons  of  Levi,  who  came  with  Jacob 
into  Egypt, — Gershon,  Kohath,  Merari. 


THE   DANITES   AND   LEVITES    AT   THE   EXODUS.         169 

(i)  These  three  increased  in  the  second  (Amram's) 
generation  to  8,  (not  to  9,  as  it  would  have  been,  if  they 
had  had  each  three  sons  on  the  average,)  viz.  the  sons 
oi  Kohath  4,  of  Gershon  2,  oi  Merari  2,  E.  vi.  17-19. 

(ii)  The  4  sons  of  Kohath  increased  in  the  third 
(Aaron's)  generation  to  8,  (not  to  12,)  viz.  the  sons  of 
Amram  (Moses  and  Aaron)  2,  of  Izhar  3,  of  Uzziel  3, 
E.  vi.  20-22.  If  we  now  assume  that  the  two  sons  of 
Gershoii,  and  the  two  sons  of  Merari  increased  in  the 
same  proportion,  that  is,  to  4  and  4  respectively,  then 
all  the  male  Levites  of  the  thii'd  generation  would  have 
been  16. 

(iii)  The  two  sons  of  Amram  increased  in  i\\e  fourth 
(Eleazar's)  generation  to  6,  viz.  the  sons  of  Aaron  4,  (of 
whom,  however,  2  died,  N.  iii.  2,  4,)  and  of  Moses  2. 
Assuming  that  all  the  16  of  the  third  generation  in- 
creased in  the  same  proportion,  then  all  the  male  Le- 
vites of  the  generation  of  Eleazar  would  have  been  48, 
or  rather  44,  if  we  omit  the  4  sons  of  Aaron  who  were 
reckoned  as  Priests.  Thus  the  whole  number  of  Le- 
vites, who  would  be  numbered  at  the  first  census,  would 
be  only  44,  viz.  20  Kohathites^  12  Gershonites^  12 
Merarites,  instead  of  8,580,  as  they  are  numbered  in  N. 
iv.  48,  viz.  2,T50  KoJiathites,  2,630  Gershonites^  and 
3,200  Merarites,  v.  36,  40,  44. 

127.  Or  we  may  put  the  matter  in  another,  and  a 
yet  stronger,  light,  usIikj  ordy  the  exjyress  data  of  Scrip- 
ture^ and  omitting  all  reference  to  the  215  years'  so- 
journ in  Egypt  and  to  the  four  generations, — in  fact, 
mahing  no  assximptions  of  our  own  tvhatevcr. 

The  Amramitcs,  numbered  as  Levites  in  the  fourth 
(Eleazar's)  generation,  were,  as   above,  only  two,  viz. 
the  two  sons  of  Moses,  the  sons  of  Aaron  being  reck- 
8 


170  THE   DANITES    AND    LEVITES 

oned  as  Priests.  Hence  the  rest  of  the  Kohathites  of 
this  generation  must  have  been  made  up  of  the  descend- 
ants of  Izhar  and  Uzziel,  each  of  whom  had  three  sons, 
"E.  vi.  21,  22.  Consequently,  since  all  the  Kohathites 
of  Eleazar's  generation  were  numbered  at  2,Y50,  N.  iv. 
36,  it  follows  that  these  six  men  must  have  had  between 
them,  according  to  the  Scripture  story,  2,Y48  sons,  and 
we  must  suppose  about  the  same  number  of  daughters ! 
128.  There  are  some  variations  in  the  account  given 
of  the  Levite  families  in  the  book  of  Chronicles  from 
that  which  we  find  in  E.  vi.  We  have  already  had 
reason  to  see  (113)  that  the  statements  of  the  Chronicler 
are  not  always  trustworthy.  But  it  may  be  well  to 
consider  how  far  they  would  oblige  us  to  modify  the 
results  we  have  just  arrived  at. 

Thus,  in  E.  vi,  the  sons  of  Libni  and  Shimi,  v.  17,  are  not  mentioned. 
But  in  1  Ch.  xxiii  we  are  told  that  the  sons  of  Laadan  (Libni)  were  three, 
V.  8,  and  the  sons  of  Shimei  (Shimi)  three,  v.  9,  whose  names  are  given  as 
'  Shelomith,  Haziel,  and  Haran,  three.'  In  the  very  next  verse,  however, 
we  read  'the  sons  of  Shimei  were  Jahath,  Zina,  (or  rather  Zizah,  w.  11,) 
Jeush,  and  Beriah  ;  these /o!«-  were  the  sons  of  Shimei ' ;  and  it  is  obvious 
that  their  names  are  totally  different  from  the  three  former  names.  It  is 
added,  v.  11,  'And  Jahath  was  the  chief,  and  Zizah  the  second:  but  Jeush 
and  Beriah  had  not  many  sons ;  therefore  they  were  in  one  reckoning,  ac- 
cording to  their  father's  house.' 

Again,  in  E.  vi,  while  the  sons  of  Amram,  Izhar,  and  Uzziel  are  men- 
tioned, no  sons  are  assigned  to  their  brother  Hebron.  In  N.  iii.  2*7,  how- 
ever, we  read  of  '  the  family  of  the  Hebronites  ' ;  and,  in  1  Ch.  xxiii.  19 
four  sons  of  Hebron  are  mentioned. 

So  in  E.  vi.  21,  22,  the  sons  of  Izhar  are  three^  and  the  sons  of  Uzziel, 
three :  but  in  1  Ch.  xxiii.  18,  20,  Izhar  has  only  one  son,  and  Uzziel,  two. 

Collecting,  however,  the  Chronicler's  statements,  we  find  that,  in  the 
third  generation,  the  Gershonites  were  7,  viz.  the  sons  of  Laadan  3,  of 
Shimei  4, — the  Kohathites  9,  viz.  the  sons  of  Amram  2,  of  Izhar  1,  of  He- 
bron 4,  of  Uzziel  2, — the  Merarites  5,  viz.  the  sons  of  Mahli  2,  v.  21,  (but 
one  of  these  had  no  sons,  v.  22,)  of  Mushi,  3,  v.  23. 

Thus,  according  to  the  Chronicler,  all  the  male  Levites  in  the  third 


AT   THE   TIME   OF   THE   EXODUS.  171 

generation  were  21,  of  whom  one  had  no  sons ;  whereas  in  (126)  we  have 
reckoned  them  as  16.  It  is  plain,  then,  that  the  results  in  the  /owr^A  gen- 
eration will  not  be  materially  dilfereut,  if  we  take  his  data,  from  those 
which  we  have  already  arrived  at. 

129.  The  number  of  Levites  at  tlie  second  census, 
Avhen  compared  with  that  at  the  iirst,  mvolves  also  a 
great  inconsistency.  We  are  told,  IST.  xxvi.  62,  that,  at 
the  second  census,  '  those  that  were  numbered  of  them 
were  23,000,  all  males  from  a  month  old  and  upward.' 
And,  at  the  first  census,  IST.  iii.  30,  '  All  that  were 
numbered  of  the  Levites,  all  the  males  from  a  month 
old  and  upward,  were  22,000.'  Hence,  during  the 
thirty-eight  years  in  the  wilderness,  they  had  only  in- 
creased in  number  by  1,000  upon  22,000. 

Now,  either  the  Levites  were  included  in  the  sen- 
tence passed  upon  the  Congregation  generally,  that 
they  should  die  in  the  w^ilderness,  or  they  were  not. 
The  former  supposition  seems  to  be  precluded  by  the 
fact  that  Eleazar,  the  son  of  Aaron,  at  all  events,  was 
alive,  according  to  the  story,  even  after  the  death  of 
Joshua,  Jo.  xxiv.  33.  And  Eleazar  was  a  full  grown 
Priest  at  Sinai,  E.  xxviii.  1,  and  was,  therefore,  we 
nmst  suppose,  above  the  age  of  twenty,  or  even  that 
of  thirty,  at  which  the  Levites  were  first  allowed  to  do 
service  in  the  Sanctuary,  N.  iv.  47.  We  must  con- 
clude, then,  that  the  Levites  were  not  involved  in  the 
general  doom  ;  and,  in  fact  it  is  repeatedly  said,  N.  ii. 
33,  xxvi.  62,  that  they  were  not  numbered  among  the 
'  children  of  Israel,'  and  the  doom  in  question  is  evi- 
dently confined  to  the  '  children  of  Israel,'  except 
Joshua  and  Caleb.     K.  xiv.  2,  10,  xxvi.  62-65. 

130.  Now  the  population  of  England  increases  at 
the  rate  of  about  23  per  cent,  in  ten  years.* 

•  By  the  census  of  1851,  it  was  17,892,149,  and  by  that  of  18G1, 


172  THE   DANITES   AND   LEYITES 

Upon  the  same  scale,  then, — that  is  to  say,  at  no 
greater  rate  of  increase  than  this, — tlie  22,000  Levites, 
(since  these  were  all  the  males  of  all  ages,  '  from  a 
month  old  and  upward,'  and  therefore,  may  be  reck- 
oned as  about  half  the  wdiole  mixed  population  of  Levites, 
male  and  female,)  should  have  increased  in  ten  years 
to  27,060,  in  the  next  ten  years  to  33,284,  in  the  next 
ten  to  40,939,  and  in  the  last  eight  to  48,471, — instead 
of  which  the  number  of  this  favoured  tribe  is  given 
only  at  23,000.  In  other  Avords,  they  should  have  in- 
creased by  more  than  26,000  ;  but  they  are  represented 
as  increased  by  only  1000. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  tribe  of  Manasseh  increased 
in  the  thirty-eight  years  from  32,200,  JN".  i.  35,  to  52,- 
700,  N.  XX vi.  34,  and  all  these  were  men  in  the  prime 
of  life,  and  not  one  of  the  32,200  was  numbered  among 
the  52,700.  Whereas  the  22,000  Levites  w^ere  males 
of  all  ages  '  from  a  month  old  and  upward,'  and  a  large 
proportion  of  these,  we  may  suppose,  survived  the 
thirty-eight  years  ;  and  yet  these,  with  their  children 
and  grandchildren,  were  only  increased  by  1,000  in 
the  same  interval. 

131.  It  must  now,  surely,  be  sufficiently  plain  that 
the  account  of  these  numbers  is  of  no  statistical  value 
whatever. 

In  fact,  if  we  take  the  certain  historical  datum  in 
(130,  note),  and  assume  that  the  Hebrew  population  in- 

20,061,725,  besides  2,249,355  emigrants  between  March  31,  1851,  and 
April  8,  1861.  Some  of  these  emigrants  would,  of  course,  have  died  in 
the  interval,  if  they  had  remained  in  England.  We  may  suppose  that 
2,000,000  would  have  survived,  making  altogether  the  population  in  1861, 
22,061, 725;  so  that  the  increase  in  10  years  upon  17,892,149,  was 
4,169,576  or  more  than  23  per  cent. 


AT   THE   TIME   OF   THE   EXODUS.  173 

creased,  like  that  of  England,  at  the  rate  of  23  per 
cent,  in  10  years,  then,  reckoning  the  males  as  about  half 
the  entire  population,  we  shall  find  that  the  51  males 
in  G.  xlvi.  would  have  only  increased  in  215  years  to 
4,875  *  instead  of  1,000,000.  So,  too,  Dan's  one  son 
would  have  required  558  years  to  multiply  to  104,500, 
the  total  number  of  Danite  males  existing  at  the  time 
of  the  Exodus,  according  to  N".  ii.  26,  which  we  obtain 
by  adding  to  the  warriors  there  numbered  the  due 
proportion  of  old  men  and  boys,  as  in  (39). 

132.  But  then  what  are  we  to  say  of  the  whole 
story  of  the  Exodus,  of  the  camping  and  marching  of 
the  Israelites,  of  their  fighting  with  Amalek  and  Mid- 
ian,  of  the  44  Levites  (126)  slaying  3,000  of  the  '  chil- 
dren of  Israel,'  E.  xxxii.  28,  of  their  dying  by  pesti- 
lence, 14,700  at  one  time,  'N.  xvi.  49,  24,000  at  another, 
]Sr.  XXV.  9,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  body  of  600,000 
fighting  men  being  swept  away  during  the  forty  years' 
sojourn  in  the  wilderness  ?  Several  chapters  of  the 
book  of  J^umbers  are  occupied  in  laying  down  the  du- 
ties of  the  Levites, — not  of  the  Levites,  as  they  were  to 
be  in  after  years,  when  their  numbers  might  be  multi- 
plied, but  as  they  were  to  be  then,  in  the  wilderness,  in 
attendance  upon  the  Tabernacle.  How  were  the  20 
Kohathites,  the  12  Gershonites,  and  the  12  Merarites, 
to  discharge  the  ofiices  assigned  to  them  in  ]^.  iii.  iv., 
in  carrying  the  Tabernacle  and  its  vessels, — to  do,  in 
short,  the  work  of  8,580  men,  N.  iv.  48  ?  What  were 
these  forty-four  people,  with  the  two  Priests,  and  their 
families,  to  do  with  the  forty-eight  cities  assigned  to 

*  The  number  in  question  will  be  represented  mathematically  by 
51  (1-23)  2li;  and  log.  51  +  2Hxlog.  l-23=l-'i'075702  +  2H  x  -0899051 
=  3'6405298=log.4,375. 


174        THE    DANITES   AND   LEVITES    AT   THE   EXODUS. 

them,  N.  xxxv.  7  ?  How  could  the  Tabernacle  itself 
have  been  erected,  when  the  silver  spent  uj^on  it  was 
contributed,  as  we  are  expressly  told,  by  a  poll-tax  of 
half  a  shekel,  E.  xxxviii,  26,  levied  upon  the  whole 
body  of  603,550  warriors,  who  did  not  exist  ? 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

EEPLIES   TO   KUETZ,    HENGSTENBEKG,    AJSID   OTHEKS. 

133.  In  fact,  the  consequences  of  admitting  the 
reality  of  the  above  results  are  obviously  so  important, 
that,  of  com'se,  the  most  strenuous  efforts  have  been 
made  to  '  reconcile  '  these  discrepancies,  if  possible,  by 
those  theologians,  who  support  the  ordinary  view,  and 
who  have  studied  the  Pentateuch  sufficiently  to  be 
aware  of  the  difficulties  thus  raised.  The  desperate 
nature  of  the  attempt  will  be  best  seen,  by  simply  stat- 
ing the  contrivances  resorted  to  for  this  purpose,  to  the 
utter  sacrifice  of  all  historical  truth  and  consistency. 

Thus  says  Kuktz,  ii.  149  : — 

It  is  a  gross  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  two  millions  were  all  the  di- 
rect descendants  of  Jacob.  When  Jacob  and  his  sons  went  down  to  Egypt, 
they  must  certainly  have  taken  with  them  all  their  menservants  and  maid- 
servants, as  well  as  all  their  cattle.  We  know  that  Abraham  had  318 
servants,  fit  for  war,  and  trained  to  arms :  his  nomadic  household  must 
have  contained,  therefore,  more  than  a  thousand  souls.  Jacob,  again,  who 
inherited  all  these,  brought  with  him  from  Syria  so  many  menservants  and 
maidservants,  and  so  much  cattle,  that,  when  he  was  afraid  of  an  attack 
from  Esau,  he  divided  them  into  two  armies.  With  such  data  as  these, 
then,  we  are  justified  in  assuming  that  the  number  of  those,  who  went 
down  with  Jacob  into  Egypt,  was  not  limited  to  his  sixty-six  children  and 
grand-children,  but  consisted  of  several  thousand  menservants  and  maid- 
servants. But,  according  to  G.  xvii.  12,  13,  these  had  all  been  circum- 
cised ;  and  in  Egypt  the  descendants  of  Jacob  will,  no  doubt,  have  married 


1T6  REPLIES   TO   KURTZ, 

the  descendants  of  his  servants.  Hence  we  regard  the  two  million  soula, 
who  left  Egypt  at  the  Exodus,  as  the  posterity  of  tite  whole  of  Ike  people, 
who  went  down  into  Egypt  with  Jacob. 

It  is  very  plain  that  Kurtz  feels  very  mucli  the 
necessity  for  supposing  the  existence  of  these  '  thou- 
sands '  of  ancestors,  in  order  to  produce  the  enormous 
population  which  he  tries  to  account  for. 

134.  We  might  answer  in  reply,  as  follows  : — 

(i)  There  is  no  word  or  indication  of  any  such  a  cortege  having  accom- 
panied Jacob  into  Egypt. 

(ii)  There  is  no  sign  even  in  G.  xxxii,  xxxiii,  to  which  Ktjrtz  refers, 
where  Jacob  meets  with  his  brother  Esau,  of  his  having  any  such  a  body 
of  servants. 

(iii)  If  he  had  had  so  many  at  his  command,  it  is  hardly  likely  that  he 
would  have  sent  his  darling  Joseph,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  to  go,  all 
alone  and  unattended,  wandering  about  upon  the  veldt  in  search  of  his 
brethren. 

(iv)  These  also  are  spoken  of  as  '  feeding  their  flocks,'  and  seem  to 
have  had  none  of  these  'thousands'  with  them,  to  witness  their  ill-treat- 
ment of  their  brother  and  report  it  to  their  father. 

(v)  Nothing  is  said  about  any  of  these  servants  coming  down  with  the 
sons  of  Jacob  to  buy  corn  in  Egypt,  on  either  of  their  expeditions. 

(vi)  Rather,  the  whole  story  implies  the  contrary, — '  they  speedily  took 
down  every  man  his  sack  to  the  ground,  and  opened  every  man  his  sack,' 
— '  then  they  rent  their  clothes,  and  laded  every  man  his  ass,  and  returned 
to  the  city,' — '  we  are  brought  in,  that  he  may  seek  occasion  against  us, 
and  take  us  for  bondmen,  and  our  asses,'  not  a  word  being  said  about  ser- 
vants. 

(vii)  In  fact,  their  eleven  sacks  loould  have  held  hut  a  very  scarity  sup- 
ply of  food  for  one  year's  consumption  of  so  many  starving  '  thousands'     ■ 

(viii)  The  flocks  and  herds  did  not  absolutely  require  any  '  servants '  to 
tend  them,  in  the  absence  of  Jacob's  sons,  since  there  remained  at  home, 
with  the  patriarch  himself,  his  thirty-nine  children  and  grand-children,  as 
well  as  his  sons'  wives. 

135.  But,  besides  all  this,  it  is  evident  that  the 
whole  stress  of  the  story  is  laid  upon  this  very  point, 
that  the  multitude, — the  onales^  at  all  events, — who 
went  up  out  of  Egypt  at  the  Exodus,  had  come  ou^  of 


HENGSTENBERG,    AND    OTHERS.  177 

the  loins  of  Jacob,  and  increased  from  the  '  seventy 
souls,'  who  went  down  at  first.  If,  then,  we  supposed 
that  all  the  women  were  obtained  from  strangers,  it  is 
certain  that  the  Pentateuch  represents  the  000,000 
fio-htinff  men  as  Jacob's  actual  descendants,  and  62,700 
of  these  as  the  offspring  of  Dan  at  the  time  of  the  Exo- 
dus. And  we  have  the  same  difficulty  as  before,  to  ex- 
plain how  this  could  possibly  have  happened  in  215 
years  and  four  generations. 

136.  But,  says  Kurtz,  instead  of  215  years,  we  must 
reckon  430  years,  and  the  '  four  generations '  must 
mean  ^fow  centuries^  Even  then,  he  admits  the  in- 
crease would  be  '  unparalleled  in  history.'  Even  then 
also  there  would  remain  other  insuperable  difficulties, 
as,  for  instance,  that  connected  with  the  question  of  the 
firstborn  (93),  namely,  that  every  Hebrew  mother  must 
have  had,  on  the  average,  more  than  forty  children. 

But  here  the  genealogies  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  and 
the  others  quoted  in  (109),  come  in  the  way,  and  show 
distinctly  what  is  meant  by  the  '  fourth  generation.' 
And  the  ages  of  Kohath  and  Amram  are  both  given,  so 
as  to  make  it  impossible,  as  we  have  seen  (102),  to  ex- 
tend the  sojourn  in  Egypt  to  430  years. 

137.  Then,  Kurtz  suggests,  in  the  j^edigree  of  Moses 
and  Aaron  there  must  be  some  names  omitted. 

The  four  members  which  commonly  appear,  Levi,  Kohath,  Amram, 
Moses,  are  intended  merely  to  represent  the  four  generations,  who  dwelt  in 
Egypt.  And  this  is  the  reason  why  the  ages  are  given,  and  not  to  enable 
us  to  calculate  how  long  tlie  Israelites  were  in  Egypt,  which  they  would 
never  enable  us  to  do.     ii.  141. 

The  meaning  of  the  last  clause  in  the  above  quota- 
tion is  to  me  incomprehensible.     But,  as  the  pedigree 
of  Moses  and  Aaron  is  repeated  again  and  again,  in  a 
8* 


178 


REPLIES    TO    KUETZ, 


very  precise  and  formal  manner,  without  the  least  inti- 
mation being  given  that  it  is  meant  to  be  less  histori- 
cally true  than  any  of  the  other  genealogies,  we  must 
accept  it  as  it  stands.  And,  indeed,  it  would  be 
strange,  that  we  should  have  accurate  genealogies  given 
us  for  a  number  of  persons  of  very  second-rate  import- 
ance in  the  story,  and  none  at  all  for  Moses  and  Aaron. 
And,  even  if  we  supposed  that  some  names  may  have 
been  omitted  in  this  particular  genealogy,  how  is  it  that 
so  many  other  genealogies,  as  quoted  in  (109),  contain 
only  the  same  number  of  names  ?  Besides,  it  is  ex- 
pressly stated,  as  a  matter  of  hondjide  domestic  history, 
(as  much  so  as  that  of  Abraham  marrying  Sarah,  or 
Isaac,  Rebekah,  or  Jacob,  Leah  and  Eachel,)  that  Am- 
ram  married  '  Jochebed  his  father's  sister,'  E.  vi.  20, 
'  the  daughter  of  Levi,  whom  (his  wife)  bare  to  Levi  in 
Egypt,'  N.  xxvi.  59. 

138.  But  then,  says  Ivitetz,  the  word  here  rendered 
'  father's  sister  '  may  only  mean  '  blood-relative  on  the 
father's  side,'  And  there  is  one  instance  in  the  Scrip- 
ture, (Jer.  xxxii.  12  compared  with  v.  7,)  where  the 
Hebrew  word  seems  to  be  used  in  this  sense,  though 
the  other  is  the  connnon  and  proper  one. 

Jochebed,  then,  may  be  called  a  '  daughter  of  Levi '  hi  the  same  sense 
in  which  Christ  is  called  a  '  son  of  David.'  And  this  very  phrase  itself, 
'  whom  (his  wife)  bare  to  Levi  in  Egypt,'  has  the  appearance  of  a  gloss  ap- 
pended to  the  preceding  words  '  daughter  of  Levi,'  which  the  author  of 
the  gloss  seems  to  have  understood  in  their  literal  sense,  as  denoting  an 
actual  daughter  of  Levi,  and  then  to  have  endeavoured  to  soften  down  the 
improbability  of  Moses'  mother  being  a  daughter  of  Levi,  [as  no  daughter 
of  Levi  is  mentioned  in  G.  xlvi,]  by  appending  a  clause  to  the  effect  that 
the  daughter  in  question  was  born  in  Egypt.  This  gloss,  we  admit,  must 
have  been  introduced  at  a  very  early  period,  as  it  is  found  in  every  codex 
and  version,     ii.  142. 


HENGSTEKBERG,    AlfD   OTUEES.  179 

But,  even  if  these  words  are  a  gloss,  and  Jochebed 
was  not  an  actual  daughter  of  Levi,  (which,  however,  is 
a  mere  conjecture  of  the  above  commentator,)  the  main 
fact  would  remain  the  same,  viz.  that  the  pedigree  of 
Moses  and  Aaron  is  undoubtedly  meant  to  be  under- 
stood as  a  hond  fide  pedigree.  And,  as  we  have  seen, 
it  brings  with  it,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  a  number 
of  absolute  impossibilities, — among  others,  that  six  men 
must  have  had  between  them  2,748  sons  (127). 

139.  Accordingly  we  find  Kuetz  liimself  almost 
driven  to  despair  in  his  attem23ts  to  get  over  this  dif- 
ficulty : — 

Are  we  to  believe,  then,  that  Kohath's  descendants  through  Amram 
consisted  of  no  more  than  6  males  at  the  time  of  the  census  recorded  in  N. 
ill.  (viz.  Moses  and  his  two  sons,  Aaron  and  his  two  sons,)  whilst  his 
descendants  through  the  other  three  sons,  Izhar,  Hebron,  and  Uzziel,  con- 
sisted at  the  very  same  period,  of  8,656  males  [?  8,594,  N.  iii.  28]  at  the 
very  same  time,  that  is,  2,885  for  each  ?  This,  certainly,  is  a  large  demand 
upon  our  faith.  Still,  as  we  cannot  say  that  it  is  impossible,  we  submit 
and  believe.  But  we  are  further  required  to  believe,  N.  iii.  27,  that  at 
this  census  the  6  Amramites — what  am  I  saying  ?  there  could  really  have 
been  only  tvio  included  in  the  census,  namely,  the  two  sons  of  Moses  ;  for 
Aaron  and  his  sons  were  Priests,  to  whom  the  Levites  were  to  be  assigned 
as  a  present ;  and,  as  it  was  for  this  very  purpose  that  the  census  was  taken, 
they  would  certainly  not  be  included  in  it,  any  more  than  Moses  himself; 
— hence,  then,  we  are  required  to  believe  that  the  two  remaining  Amram- 
ites formed  a  distinct  family,  with  precisely  the  same  privileges  and  duties 
as  the  2,885  Izharites,  the  2,885  Hebronites,  and  the  2,^85  Uzzielites. 
We  must  candidly  confess  that  our  faith  will  not  reach  so  far  as  this.  ii. 
145. 

140,  Kalisch  treats  this  matter  as  follows,  Exod.  jp. 
160:— 

'  It  has  often  been  considered  questionable,  if  not  impossible,  that  the 
seventy  souls,  who  immigrated  into  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Jacob,  should, 
during  their  sojourn  there,  have  increased  to  such  a  great  nation.  To  ex- 
plain this  apparent  difficulty,  we  remind  the  reader  of  the  following  facts 
and  arguments. 


180  REPLIES   TO   KURTZ, 

(i)  '  Among  the  Hebrews,  like  other  nations,  polygamy  was  the  ride.'' 
Ans.  Assumed  without  proof,  and,  if  true,  only  aggravating  enormous- 
ly one  of  the  main  difficulties  of  the  story  (9-1.  i.),  in  order  to  relieve 
which,  Kurtz,  as  we  have  seen,  assumes,  with  equal  absence  of  proof,  the 
rarity  of  polygamy  among  them. 

(ii)  '  They  married  early,  as  it  is  still  customary  in  the  East  to  enter 
the  conjugal  life  in  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  year, 

(iii)  '  They  lived  longer,  and,  no  doubt,  attained  in  the  average  to  an 
age  above  ninety  years. 

(iv)  '  By  a  singular  Providence  of  God,  they  were  not  weakened  by 
pestilence  or  famine. 

(v)  '  The  prodigious  fruitfulness  of  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt  is  expressly 
mentioned  in  E.  i.  7.' 

A71S.  To  the  above  we  reply  that,  notwithstanding  these  early  mar- 
riages, long  lives,  and  great  fruitfulness,  the  12  sons  of  Jacob  in  G.  xlvi 
had,  on  the  average,  only  4 J  sons,  and  the  Levites  in  E.  vi  only  3  sons; 
nor  is  there  a  single  indication  in  the  whole  story  that  the  Hebrew  families 
were  generally  larger  than  this.  We  have  allowed  fully  for  (iv)  by  sup- 
posing that  all  the  sons  in  each  family  and  generation  lived  on  and  multi- 
phed. 

(vi)  '  The  period,  which  elapsed,  between  the  immigration  of  Jacob  and 
the  Exodus,  amounts  to  430  years.  Now,  if  we  take  a  generation  to  ex- 
tend about  30  years,  and  suppose  that,  on  the  average,  every  man  had  no 
more  than  three  sons,  the  69  souls,  excluding  Jacob,  trebled  in  30  years-, 
this  number  was  again  increased  threefold  in  another  30  years ;  and,  in 
fourteen  generations  (420  years),  they  would,  according  to  this  calcu- 
lation, amount  to  about  33  millions;  and,  therefore,  no  reasonable  critic 
will  find  the  number  of  2^  millions  impossible  or  exaggerated.' 

Ans.  We  have  sho-mi  that  the  number  of  years,  according  to  the  story, 
was  215,  instead  of  430,  and  the  number  of  gcneratious  _/bwi-,  instead  of 
fourteen.   But,  independently  of  these,  there  remains  the  difficulty  of  Levi's ' 
descendants,  and  of  the  number  of  the  first-born. 

141.  Eawlinsoj^  also,  Aids  to  Faith,  j^.  279-282, 
discusses  tliis  question  of  tlie  '  sojourn  in  Egypt,'  in  re- 
lation to  the  numbers  of  the  Israelites  at  the  beginning 
and  end  of  it.  But,  as  usual,  he  onlj  treats  of  the  mat- 
ter in  its  most  general  form,  and  does  not  touch  upon 
the  details, — such  as  the  numbers  of  the  tribe  of  Dan 
(125),  or  the  descendants  of  Levi  (127),  or  the  number 


HENGSTENBEKG,    AND   OTHEKS.  181 


of  first-borns  (93,) — wliicli  exhibit  so  distinctly  the  iin- 
historical  character  of  the  whole  account.  The  only  in- 
ference, that  can  be  drawn  from  his  silence  on  these 
points,  is  that  he  has  not  thoroughly,  in  his  own  per- 
son, considered  this  particular  question,  and  has  not  re- 
ally perceived  these  special  difficulties  at  all,  though 
they  lie  upon  the  very  surface, — more  especially  as 
he  writes, — 

It  is  more  easy  to  make  a  vague  and  general  charge  of  absurdity  against 
an  adversary,  than  to  point  out  iu  what  the  absurdity,  with  which  he  is 
taxed,  consists. 

142.  "With  respect  to  the  general  question,  however, 
Rawlinson  writes  as  follows  : — 

'  No  one  asserts  it  to  be  naturally  probable  that  such  a  company  as  went 
down  with  Jacob  into  Egypt  would  in  215,  or  even  430  years  have  become 
a  nation  possessing  600,000  fighting  men.  Orthodox  commentators  sim- 
ply say  that  such  an  increase  of  numbers  was  possible,  even  in  the  shortest 
of  these  terms.  They  note  that,  if  Jacob  brought  into  Egypt  51  grandsons, 
and  if,  under  the  special  blessing  of  God,  so  repeatedly  promised  to  Abra- 
ham, his  male  descendants  had  continued  to  increase  at  the  same  rate, 
they  would  long  within  the  specified  periods,  have  reached  the  required 
number.' 

Ans.  We  have  shown  in  (118)  that,  at  the  same  rate  of  increase  as  iu 
G.  xlvi,  the  number  of  warriors  in  the  fourth  generation,  that  of  Joshua  or 
Elcazar,  would  be  only  4,923,  instead  of  600,000  ;  while  (122)  at  the  same 
rate  of  increase  as  in  E.  vi,  it  would  only  amount  to  1,377. 

'  In  point  of  fact,  they  would  in  the  ffth  generation  have  exceeded 
850,000,  and  in  the  ninth  have  amounted  to  6,000,000.' 

Ans.  At  the  same  rate  of  increase  the  number  in  the  fifth  generation 
would  be  22,154  (or  4,131),  and  in  the  sixth,  99,693  (or  12,393).  And,  if 
the  males  of  all  the  six  generations  were  added  together,  their  number  would 
only  be  128,158  (or  18,564),  instead  of  exceeding  1,000,000. 

143.  Tlie  reader  must  be  curious  to  know  by  what 
ingenious  process  Rawlinson  has  contrived  to  produce 
sucli  enormous  numbers  instead  of  the  true  ones.     The 


182 


REPLIES   TO   KURTZ, 


solution  of  the  mystery  is  given  in  the  following  extra- 
ordinary note. 

'  The  average  increase  of  the  males  in  the  generations  had  been  more 
than  sevenfold  (I)  each  generation.  A  sevenfold  increase  would  have  given 
857,157  males  in  the  fifth  generation,  and  6,000,090  in  the  sixth: 

That  is  to  say,  because  one  man  Jacob  had  53,  or  more  than  seven  times 
seven,  grandsons^  therefore  we  are  justified  in  assuming  that  his  progeny 
was  increased  more  than  sevenfold  in  each  generation  ! — it  being  left  out 
of  consideration  altogether  that — 

(i)  Though  Jacob  had  twelve  sons,  yet  these  twelve  had  only  fifty-three 
between  them. 

(ii)  If  Jacob's  twelve  sons  be  added  to  these  fifty-three,  there  will  be  only 
sixty-five  sons  and  thirteen  parents,  or  an  average  otfive  sons  for  each. 

(iii)  The  descendants  of  Levi  are  traced  completely  down  to  the  fourth 
generation,  and  these  on  the  average  had  only  three  sons  each. 

(iv)  The  Scripture  states  that  there  were  600,000  warriors  in  the  fourth 
generation  from  Jacob's  sons,  whereas  RAWLiNS0N's_^i(A  and  sixth  genera- 
tions are  reckoned  from  Jacob's  grandsons,  and  correspond,  therefore,  to 
the  sixth  and  seventh  of  the  Bible. 

(v)  Even  at  a  sevenfold  rate  of  increase,  the  males  descended  from 
Dan's  one  son  would  only  have  amounted  to  343  warriors  in  the  fourth 
generation,  according  to  the  Bible,  2,401  in  the  fifth,  16,807  in  the  sixth, — 
instead  of  being  62,700  in  the  fourth. 

IM.  But  the  Essayist  proceeds  as  follows  : — 

At  the  same  time,  as  we  arc  bound  not  to  exaggerate  the  Divine  in- 
terference with  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  beyond  what  is  actually 
stated  or  implied  in  Scripture,  [hence  we  have  no  right  to  exceed  the 
average  of  4|  or,  rather,  3  sons  for  each  father,]  it  ought  to  be  borne 
in  mind  that  we  have  no  need  to  suppose  the  600,000  fighting  men,  who 
quitted  Egypt,  though  they  are  all  called  Israelites,  to  have  been  all  de- 
scendants of  Jacob.  The  members  of  the  patriarch's  family  came  down  into 
Egypt  u'ith  their  households.  What  the  size  of  the  patriarchal  households 
was,  we  may  gather  from  Abraham,  whose  '  trained  servants  born  in  his 
house '  amounted  to  318.  Xor  was  this  an  exceptional  case.  Esau  met 
Jacob,  on  his  return  from  Padan-Aram,  with  400  men,  who  were  pi-obably 
his  servants  ;  and  Jacob,  at  the  same  meeting,  had  such  a  number,  that  he 
could  divide  them  into  two  '  bands '  or  '  armies.'  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the 
whole  company,  which  entered  Egypt  with  Jacob,  amounted  to  above  a 
thousand  souls.     Kurtz  thinks  they  must  have  consisted  of  '  several  thou- 


HENGSTKNBERG,  AND  OTHEKS.  183 

sands.'  As  all  were  circumcised,  all  would,  doubtless,  be  considered 
Israelites ;  and  their  descendants  would  be  reckoned  to  the  tribes  of  their 
masters.' 

Aii^.  The  reply  to  this  argument  is  given  in  (134,  135). 

'  Again,  we  must  remember  that  polygamy  prevailed  among  the  He- 
brews, and  that,  though  polygamy,  if  a  nation  lives  by  itself,  is  7iot  favour- 
able to  rapid  increase,  yet,  if  foreign  wives  can  be  obtained  in  any  num- 
ber, it  is  an  institution,  by  means  of  which  population  may  be  greatly  aug- 
mented. ' 

Ans.  There  is  no  indication  that  polygamy  did  '  prevail '  among  the 
Hebrews  of  those  days.  If  it  did,  it  aggravates  the  difficulty  as  to  the 
first-borns  (94.  i).  But,  whether  it  did  or  not,  the  average  number  of  sons 
for  each  father  can  only  be  reckoned,  according  to  the  Scripture  data,  as  4^ 
or,  rather,  3. 

'  Egypt,  moreover,  was  a  country,  where  both  men  and  animals  are  said 
to  have  been  remarkably  prolific, — where,  therefore,  natural  law  would  have 
tended  in  the  same  direction  as  the  special  action  of  Divine  Providence 
at  this  time.' 

Ans.  But  the  fecundity  of  Egj-pt  will  not  explain  the  difficulty  as  to 
Dan's  descendants  (125,  143.  v). 

'  These  considerations  do  not,  indeed,  reduce  the  narrative  within  the 
category  of  ordinary  occurrences ;  but  they  diminish  considerably  from  its 
extraordinariness.  They  show  that  at  any  rate  there  is  no  need  to  extend 
the  period  of  the  sojourn  beyond  the  430  years  of  the  Hebrew  text,  unless 
we  seek  to  deprive  the  increase  of  that  special  and  exceptional  character, 
which  is  markedly  assigned  to  it  by  the  sacred  historian.' 

Ans.  Rawlinson,  it  seems,  adopts,  with  Kurtz,  the  notion  of  the  so- 
journ of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  lasting  430,  instead  of  215,  years.  We 
have  shown  that  the  latter  is  the  Scripture  statement,  but  that,  on  cither 
sui)position,  the  difficulties  of  the  story  are  insuperable  (13G). 

145.  Lastly,  this  is  Haveknick's  account  of  tlie  mat- 
ter :  Pent.  p.  210  :— 

The  number  of  Israelites  at  the  Exodus  amounted  to  600,000  men  of 
war,  which  supposes  the  nation  to  have  numbered  two  milliovs  and  a  half 
of  individuals.  Now,  while  expre.s.sly  regarding  this  extraordinary  increase 
as  a  special  divine  blessing,  and  recognising  in  it  also,  in  surveying  the 
history  from  a  higher  point  of  view,  the  undeniable  working  of  Provi- 
dence, which  in  this  manner  would  cause  the  liberation  of  Israel  to  ajjpear 
tlie  more  splendidly  as  a  divine  act,  yet  natural  causes  also  admit  of  being 


184     REPLIES    TO   KUETZ,    HENGSTENBEKG,    AND    OTHEES. 

stated,  as  concurring  to  its  production,  and  serving  to  explain  the  circum- 
stance. 

(i)  The  ample  period  of  430  years  must  certainly  be  regarded  in  the 
first  place.  [To  this  remark,  the  translator,  A.  Thomson,  A.  M.  Prof. 
Bibl.  Lit.  Glasgow  Theol.  Acad.,  appends  very  properly  the  note,  '  This 
certainly  appears  to  be  an  error.'] 

(ii)  We  must  next  take  into  account  the  uncommon  fruitfulness  of 
Egypt,  on  which  all  the  ancient  authors  are  agreed,  while  they  extol  the 
peculiarly  prosperous  births  of  Egyptian  women.  This  must  especially  be 
supposed  to  have  been  the  case  in  the  districts  inhabited  by  the  Hebrews, 
since  there  was  the  fruitfulness  of  the  ground  in  addition.  [See  140.  v. 
Ans.'] 

(iii)  There  is  no  force  at  all  in  the  objection  that  so  many  men  could 
not  have  found  room  there.  In  the  time  of  Josephus,  Jewish  War,  ii.  16, 
Egypt,  exclusive  of  Alexandria,  numbered  seven  millions  of  inhabitants ; 
and  yet,  at  that  time,  the  population  of  the  interior  must  have  consider- 
ably diminished,  if  we  compare  the  accounts  of  the  ancients  concerning 
Thebes  in  particular.  [We  have  not  advanced  this  want  of  room  aa  an 
objection.  It  is  plain,  however,  that  Haveenick  has  only  regarded  the 
question  very  superficially,  and  is  not  at  all  aware  of  the  many  difiBculties 
by  which  it  is  surrounded.] 


CHAPTEK   XX. 

THE  NUMBEK  OF  PRIESTS  AT  THE  EXODUS  COMPAEED  WITH 
THEIR  DUTIES,  AKD  WITH  THE  PROVISION  MADE  FOR 
THEM. 

146.  The  book  of  Leviticus  is  chiefly  occupied  in 
giving  directions  to  tlie  Priests  for  the  proper  discharge 
of  the  different  duties  of  their  office,  and  further  direc- 
tions are  given  in  the  book  of  Numbers. 

(i)  In  the  case  of  '  every  hurnt-offering^  which  any  man  shall  ofi'er,' 
whether  bullock,  or  sheep,  or  goat,  or  turtle-dove,  '  the  PriesU,  Aamri's 
sons,  shall  sprinkle  the  blood  upon  the  altar,  and  put  fire  upon  the  altar, 
and  lay  the  wood  in  order  on  the  fire,  and  lay  the  parts,  the  head  and  the 
fat,  in  order  upon  the  wood  ;'  and  '  the  Priest  shall  burn  all  on  the  altar, 
to  be  a  burnt-sacrifice.'    L.  i. 

(ii)  So  in  the  case  of  a  meat-offering,  L.  ii,  peace-offering,  L.  iii,  sin- 
offering,  L.  iv,  or  trespass-offering,  L.  v,  vi,  the  Priest  has  special  duties 
assigned  to  him,  as  before. 

(iii)  Every  woman  after  childbirth  is  to  bring  a  lamb  for  a  burnt-offer- 
ing, and  a  pigeon  or  turtle-dove  for  a  sin-oflFering,  or  two  young  pigeons  for 
the  two  offerings,  and  the  Priest  is  to  officiate,  as  before,  L.  xii. 

(iv)  Every  case  of  leprosy  is  to  be  brought  again  and  again  to  tJie 
Priest,  and  carefully  inspected  by  him  till  it  is  cured,  L.  xiii. 

(v)  Any  one,  cured  of  leprosy,  is  to  bring  a  burnt-offering  and  a  sin- 
offering,  and  the  Priest  is  to  officiate,  as  before,  L.  xiv. 

(vi)  For  certain  ceremonial  pollutions,  which  are  specified,  the  Priest 
is  to  offer  sacrifice,  L.  xv.  1.5,  30. 

(vii)  For  a  male  or  female  Nazarite,  when  the  days  of  separation  are 
fulfilled,  the  Priest  is  to  offer  a  burnt  offering,  a  sin-offering,  and  a  peace 
offering,  N.  vi. 


186  THE   NUaiBER   OF    PRIESTS, 

(viii)  Every  day,  morniDg  and  evening,  the  Priest  is  to  ofiPer  a  lamb 
for  a  continual  burnt-offering,  besides  additional  sacrifices  on  the  Sabbath, 
the  New  Moon,  at  the  Feast  of  Unleavened  Bread,  and  at  the  Feast  of  the 
First-fruits,  N.  xxviii. 

(ix)  In  the  seventh  month,  for  several  days  together,  besides  the 
daily  sacrifice,  there  were  to  be  extraordinary  additional  sacrifices,  so  that 
on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month  the  Priest  was  to  offer  13  bullocks,  2 
rams,  and  14  lambs,  and  in  the  seven  days,  from  the  fifteenth  to  the 
twenty-first,  70  bullocks,  14  rams,  and  98  lambs.     N.  xxix. 

(x)  Lastly,  if  it  should  be  thought  that  the  above  sacrificial  system  was 
not  meant  to  be  in  full  operation  in  the  wilderness,  we  may  call  attention 
to  the  frequent  references  made,  in  the  enunciation  of  these  laws,  to  the 
Camp,  L.  iv.  12,  21,  vi.  11,  xiii.  46,  xiv.  3,  8,  as  well  as  to  the  words  of 
the  prophet  Amos,  v.  25, — '  Have  ye  offered  unto  Me  sacrifices  and  offer- 
ings in  the  wilderness  forty  years,  0  House  of  Israel  ? ' — which  show  that, 
in  the  prophet's  view,  at  all  events,  such  sacrifices  were  required  and  ex- 
pected of  them. 

147.  And  now  let  us  ask,  for  all  these  multifarious 
duties,  during  the  forty  years'  sojourn  in  the  wilder- 
ness,— for  all  the  burnt-offerings,  meat-ofi'erings,  peace- 
offerings,  sin-offferings,  trespass-off'erings,  thank-offer- 
ings, &c.,  of  a  population  like  that  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, besides  the  daily  and  extraordinary  sacrifices, — 
how  many  Priests  were  there  ? 

The  answer  is  very  simple.  There  were  only  three, 
— Aaron,  (till  his  death,)  and  his  two  sons,  Eleazar  and 
Ithamar. 

And  it  is  laid  down  very  solemnly  in  IST.  iii.  10, 
'  Thou  shalt  appoint  Aaron  and  his  sons,  and  they  shall 
wait  in  the  Priest's  office ;  and  the  stranger,  that  cometh 
nigh,  shall  le  put  to  death.''  So  again,  v.  38,  '  Aaron 
and  his  sons,  keeping  the  charge  of  the  Sanctuary,  for 
the  charge  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  tJie  stranger, 
that  cometh  nigh,  shall  he  jyut  to  death.'' 

148.  Yet  how  was  it  possible  that  these  two  or  three 
men  should  have  discharged  all  these  duties  for  such  a 


THEIK   DUTIES   AND   PEKQTJISITES.  187 

vasfmultitude  ?  Tliu  single  work,  of  offering  the  double 
sacrifice  for  women  after  cLiild-birtli,  must  have  utterly- 
overpowered  three  Priests,  though  engaged  without 
cessation  from  morning  till  night.  As  we  have  seen 
(74)  the  births  among  two  millions  of  people  may  be 
reckoned  as,  at  least,  250  a  day,  for  which,  consequent- 
ly, 500  sacrifices  (250  burnt-oftcrings  and  250  sin-offer- 
ings) would  have  had  to  be  offered  daily.  Looking  at 
the  directions  in  L.  i.  iv,  we  can  scarcely  allow  less 
thanjlve  minutes  for  each  sacrifice  ;  so  that  these  sacri- 
fices alone,  if  offered  separately,  would  have  taken 
2,500  minutes  or  nearly  42  hours,  and  could  not  have 
been  offered  in  a  single  day  of  twelve  hours,  though 
each  of  the  three  Priests  had  been  employed  in  the  one 
sole  incessant  labour  of  oflering  them,  without  a  mo- 
ment's rest  or  intermission. 

149.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  said  that  many  such  sacri- 
fices might  have  been  offered  at  the  same  time.  This 
is,  surely,  somewhat  contrary  to  the  notion  of  a  sacri- 
fice, as  derived  from  the  book  of  Leviticus ;  nor  is 
there  the  slightest  intimation,  in  the  whole  Pentateuch, 
of  any  such  heaping  together  of  sacrifices  ;  and  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  there  was  but  one  altar,  five 
cubits  (about  9  feet)  square,  E.  xxvii.  1,  at  which  we 
have  already  supposed  all  the  three  Priests  to  be  offici- 
ating at  the  same  moment,  actually  offering,  therefore, 
upon  the  altar  three  sacrifices  at  once^  of  which  the 
Swrw^-offerings  would,  except  in  the  case  of  poor  women, 
L.  xii.  8,  be  kwihs,  and  not  pigeons. 

150.  But  then  we  must  ask  further,  where  could 
they  have  obtained  these  250  '  turtle-doves  or  young 
pigeons '  (?aily,  that  is,  90,000  annually,  in  the  wilder- 
ness ?    There  7night  be  two  offered  for  each  birth ;  there 


188  THE    NUMBEK   OF   PKIESTS, 

'must,)  according  to  tlie  Law,  be  one,  L.  xii.  6,  8.  Did 
the  jDeople,  then,  cany  with  them  tuHle-doves  and  young 
pigeons,  oat  of  Egypt,  when  thej  fled  in  such  haste, 
and  so  heavily  laden,  and  as  yet  knew  nothing  of  any 
such  hiw  ?  Or  how  could  they  have  had  them  at  all 
under  Sinai  ? 

151.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  laws,  which  require 
the  sacrifice  of  such  birds,  were  intended  only  to  suit  the 
circumstances  of  a  later  time,  when  the  people  should 
be  finally  settled  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  As  to  this 
point  Haveknick  writes,  evidently  not  perceiving  the 
difiiculty  before  us,  but  stating  the  truth,  as  it  would 
appear  to  any  ordinary  reader.  Pent.  p.  296  : — 

Others  also  of  these  legal  appointments  bear  the  decided  mark  of  being 
framed  at  i^i  for)  a  time,  when  all  the  individuals  of  the  nation  were  so 
situated  as  to  be  at  no  great  distance  from  the  Tabernacle.  Uncleanness 
by  an  issue  of  blood,  &c.,  and  that  oi  women  in  childbed^  require  to  be  re- 
moved and  atoned  for  by  the  personal  presentation  of  offerings  in  the 
Sanctuary,  &c. 

In  fact,  we  have  one  of  these  commands,  manifestly 
referring  to  their  life  in  the  wilderness,  L.  xiv,  where, 
after  it  has  been  ordered  that  the  Priest  shall  go  out 
of  the  Camp  to  look  at  the  leper,  v.  3,  and  that  the 
leper  duly  cleansed  shall  '  after  that  come  into  the 
Cam.]),  and  shall  tarry  abroad  out  of  his  tent  seven 
days,'  v.  8,  and  on  the  eighth  day  shall  offer  '  two  he- 
lambs  and  one  ewe-lamb,  &c.,'  v.  10,  it  is  added,  v.  21, 
'  And,  if  he  be  poor,  and  cannot  get  so  much,  then  he 
shall  take  one  lamb,  &c.,  and  two  turtle-doves  or  tivo 
young  pigeons,  such  as  he  is  able  to  get.'  Here  the 
'  turtle-doves  or  young  pigeons '  are  prescribed  as  a 
lighter  and  easier  offering  for  the  poor  to  bring ;  they 
are  spoken  of,  therefore,  as  being  in  abundance,  as 


THEIR   DUTIES   AND   PEK^UISITES.  189 

being  within  the  reach  of  every  one,  in  the  wilderness, 
under  Sinai !  It  would  seem  to  follow  that  such  laws 
as  these  could  not  have  been  written  by  Moses,  but 
must  have  been  composed  at  a  later  age,  when  the 
people  were  already  settled  in  Canaan,  and  the  poor, 
who  could  not  afford  a  lamb,  could  easily  provide 
themselves  with  pigeons.  In  the  desert,  it  would  have 
been  equally  impossible  for  rich  or  poor  to  procure 
them. 

152.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  the  n;'T«  -^sa, 
'  young  pigeons,'  were  birds  of  the  wilderness.  Thus 
we  read  in  Ps.  Iv.  6,  7,  'And  I  said,  Oh  that  I  had 
wings  like  a  dove  (np-^) ;  for  then  would  I  fly  away,  and 
be  at  rest.  Lo  then  would  I  wander  far  off,  and  remain 
in  i\\Q  wilderness  (lanis);'  so  Jer.  xlviii.  28,  'O  ye,  that 
dwell  in  Moab,  leave  the  cities,  and  dwell  in  the  rock, 
and  be  like  the  dove^  that  maketli  her  nest  in  the  sides 
of  the  hole's  mouth;''  and  Ez.  vii.  16,  'They  that  escape 
of  them  shall  escape,  and  shall  be  on  the  mountains 
like  doves  of  the  valleys,  all  of  them  mourning,  every 
one  for  his  iniquity.'  Yet  the  Psalmist,  in  Ps.  Iv.  6,  7, 
was  hardly  thinking  of  the  '  great  and  dreadful '  desert 
of  Sinai.  He  had,  probably,  in  view  the  wilderness 
of  Judah,  or  some  other  wide  extent  of  'uncultivated, 
and  comparatively  barren,  country,  into  which  cattle 
are  driven  to  feed,'  (Ges.  Lex.  '^3"i'3,)  far  from  the  com- 
mon haunts  of  men  ;  and  the  f^:'l^  might  be  found 
dwelling  in  the  rocks  or  valleys  of  such  a  solitude 
as  this. 

153.  The  desert  of  Sinai,  indeed,  is  also  called  ^a']^, 
as  in  IST.  xx.  4,  D.  viii.  15,  D.  xxxii.  10,  Jer.  ii.  6.  But 
in  each  of  the  above  passages  some  expression  is  added 
to  show  the  terrific  character  of  the  Sinaitic  waste ; 


190  THE   NUMBER   OF   PRIESTS, 

thus  in  N".  xx.  4,  '  Wliy  have  ye  brought  up  the  Con- 
gregation of  Jehovah  into  this  wilderness,  that  we  and 
our  cattle  should  die  there  ?  .  .  .  neither  is  there  any 
water  to  drink ; '  in  D.  viii.  15,  '  that  great  and  terrible 
wilderness,  wherein  were  fiery  serpents,  and  scorpions, 
and  drought,  where  there  was  no  water ; '  in  D.  xxxii. 
10,  '  He  found  him  in  a  desert  land  ("lai'?  7')'<.?),  in  the 
waste  howling  wilderness  (pia-^) ' ;  in  Jer.  ii.  6,  '  Where 
is  Jehovah,  that  led  us  through  the  wilderness,  through 
a  land  of  deserts  and  of  pits,  through  a  land  of  drought 
and  of  the  shadow  of  death  ? '  It  can  scarcely  be  be- 
lieved that  the  ns'i'^  "^sa,  even  if  they  could  have  been 
found  here  at  all,  would  have  been  so  numerous,  that 
thej^  could  be  spoken  of  as  common  birds,  within  the 
reach  of  the  poorest  of  the  Congregation,  and  be  offered 
at  the  rate  of  90,000  a  year. 

154.  Again  we  have  in  IS,,  xviii.  9-11,  the  follow- 
ing commands  addressed  to  Aaron  by  Jehovah  Him- 
self:— 

'  Every  oblation  of  theirs,  every  meat-offering  of  theirs,  and  every  sin- 
offering  of  theirs,  and  every  trespass-offering  of  theirs,  which  they  shall 
render  unto  me,  shall  be  most  holy  for  thee  and  for  thy  sons.  In  the  most 
holy  place  shalt  thou  eat  it  ;  every  male  shall  eat  it  ;  it  ghall  be  holy  unto 
thee. 

'  This  also  is  thine,  the  heave-offering  of  their  gift,  with  all  the  wave- 
offerings  of  the  children  of  Israel.  I  have  given  them  unto  thee,  and  to 
thy  sons,  and  to  thy  daughters  with  thee,  by  a  statute  for  ever ;  every  one 
that  is  clean  in  thy  house  shall  eat  of  it. ' 

Then  follow  other  directions,  by  which  it  is  pro- 
vided that  the  Priest  should  have  also  '  the  best  of  the 
oil,  and  all  the  best  of  the  wine,  and  of  the  wheat,  the 
first  fruits  of  them,  which  they  shall  ofier  unto  Jeho- 
vah,' and  '  whatsoever  is  first  ripe  in  the  land ; '  which 
laws  we  may  suppose  were  intended  only  to  be  applied, 


THEIK   DUTIES   AND   PERQUISITES.  191 

when  the  people  had  become  settled  on  their  farms  in 
the  land  of  Canaan,  as  also  the  law,  v.  25-29,  for  their 
receiving  also  a  tenth  of  the  tithes  of  corn  and  wine 
and  oil,  which  were  to  be  given  for  the  support  of  the 
Levites. 

But  in  V.  14-18  we  have  again  these  provisions: — 

'  Every  thing  devoted  in  Israel  shall  be  thine.  Every  thing  that  open- 
eth  the  matrix  in  all  tlesh,  which  they  bring  unto  Jehovah,  whether  it  be 
of  men  or  beasts,  shall  be  thine :  nevertheless,  the  first-born  of  man  shalt 
thou  surely  redeem,  and  the  firstling  of  unclean  beasts  shalt  thou  redeem. 

'  But  the  firstling  of  a  cow,  or  the  firstling  of  a  sheep,  or  the  firstling 
of  a  goat,  thou  shalt  not  redeem  ;  they  are  holy;  thou  shalt  sprinkle  their 
blood  upon  the  altar,  and  shalt  burn  their  fat  for  an  offering  made  by  fire, 
for  a  sweet  savour  unto  Jehovah. 

'  And  thejlesh  of  them  shall  be  thine,  as  the  tvave-breast  and  as  the  right 
shoulder  are  thine.'' 

Similar  directions  are  also  laid  down  in  L.  vii : — 

'  As  the  szn-offering  is,  so  is  the  trespass-offering ;  there  is  one  law  for 
them :  the  Priest  that  maketh  atonement  therewith,  shall  have  it.  And  the 
Priest  which  ofFereth  any  man's  burnt-offering,  even  the  Priest  shall  have 
to  himself  the  skin  of  the  burnt-offering,  which  he  hath  offered.  And  all 
the  meat-offering  that  is  baked  in  the  oven,  and  all  that  is  dressed  in  the 
frying-pan  and  in  the  pan,  shall  be  the  Priest's  that  offereth  it.  And  every 
meat-offering,  mingled  with  oil,  and  dry,  shall  all  the  sons  of  Aaron  have, 
one  as  much  as  another.'     v.  7-10. 

'  For  the  wave-breast  and  the  heave-shoulder  have  I  taken  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  from  off  the  sacrifices  of  their /leace-ofFerings,  and  have  given 
them  unto  Aaron  the  Priest  and  unto  his  sons,  by  a  statute  forever,  from 
among  the  children  of  Israel.'    v.  34. 

155.  These  last  directions  are  given  in  the  story  be- 
fore Aaron  and  his  sons  were  consecrated.  Hence 
they  must  be  considered  as  intended  to  apply  to  them, 
while  the  Camp  was  in  the  wilderness,  as  well  as  to  the 
'  sons  of  Aaron '  in  future  generations.  But  what  an 
enormous  provision  was  this  for  Aaron  and  his  four, 
afterwards  two,  sons,  and  their  families !     They  were 


192  THE   NUMBER   OF   PRIESTS, 

to  have  the  skins  of  the  Jnomt-oSer'mgs,  and  the  shoul- 
der and  breast  (that  is,  dofible-breast)  of  the  ^^eace-offer- 
ings,  of  a  congregation  of  two  millions  of  people,  for 
the  general  use  of  their  three  families !  But,  besides 
these,  they  were  to  have  the  whole  of  the  5{;i-ofi:*erings 
and  trespass-o&eringSj  except  the  suet,  which  was  to  be 
burnt  upon  the  Altar,  L.  iv.  31,  35,  v.  6,  and  the  whole 
of  the  m(?a^-offerings,  except  a  handful,  to  be  burnt  as  a 
memorial,  L.  ii.  2  ;  and  all  this  was  to  be  eaten  ojily  hy 
the  three  males^  in  the  inost  holy  place,  N.  xviii.  10! 

156.  And  it  would  seem  that  they  were  not  at  lib- 
erty to  hur7i  the  sin-offerings,  or  consume  them  in  some 
other  way  than  by  eating :  they  must  be  '  eaten  in  the 
holy  place.'  At  all  events,  we  find  it  recorded  that 
Moses,  on  one  occasion,  '  diligently  sought  the  goat  of 
the  sin-offering,  and,  behold,  it  was  burnt !  and  he  was 
angry  with  Eleazar  and  Ithamar,  the  sons  of  Aaron, 
saying,  "Wherefore  have  ye  not  eaten  the  sin-offering  in 
the  holy  j^lace,  seeing  it  is  most  holy,  and  God  hath 
given  it  you  to  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  Congregation, 
to  make  atonement  for  tlieni  before  Jehovah  ?  Ye 
should  indeed  have  eaten  it  in  the  holy  place,  as  I  com- 
manded.'    L.  x.  16-20. 

The  very  pigeons,  to  be  brought  as  s^w-offerings  for 
the  birth  of  children,  would  have  averaged,  according 
the  story,  261  a  day ;  and  each  Priest  would  have  had 
to  eat  daily  more  than  88  for  his  own  portion,  '  in  the 
most  holy  place ' ! 

157.  Hengstenberg  himself.  Pent.  \\.  ]?■  60,  recog- 
nises unawares,  the  force  of  the  above  argument,  when 
he  insists  upon  there  having  been  a  multitude  of  Priests 
in  attendance  on  the  Tabernacle  in  EWs  time,  besides 
Eli  himself  and  his  two  sons,  Hophni  and  Phinehas. 


THEIR   DUTIES    AND    PERQUISITES.  193 

Let  it  be  considered  tiiat  an  extensive  supply  of  Priests  and  sacrifices 
was  required  by  tlie  great  reverence,  in  wliich,  according  to  1  S.  iv-vii,  the 
Ai'k  of  tlie  Covenant  was  held  at  this  period.  In  the  address  of  the  man 
of  God  to  Eli,  1  S.  ii.  28,  it  is  represented  as  the  prerogative  of  the  Priest- 
hood to  place  the  sacrifices  on  the  Altai-,  to  burn  incense,  and  to  receive  all 
the  offerings  made  by  fire  of  the  children  of  Israel.  An  order,  possessed 
of  such  prerogatives,  must  have  been  held  in  high  esteem,  and  must  have 
contained  a  considerable  number  of  members.  For  what  could  one  or  two 
isolated  Priests  do  iviih  the  sacrifices  of  all  Israel  ? 

And  again  lie  "writes,  i.  51 : — 

Since  all  Israel  at  that  time  offered  tlieir  sacrifices  at  the  Sanctuary  in 
Shiloh,  Ilow  was  it  possible  for  two  or  three  Priests  to  perform  the  requisite 
service ? 

Hengstenbeeg  does  not  appear  to  see  liow  strongly 
this  argument  bears  against  the  historical  veracity  of  the 
Pentateuch  itself.  For,  if  it  was  impossible  for  two  or 
three  Priests  to  suffice  at  Shiloh,  for  the  Israelites  who 
lived  scattered  about  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  who, 
therefore,  could  not  possibly  have  all  come  continually 
to  offer  sacrifice,  how  was  it  possible  for  Aaron  and 
'  his  two  sons  to  have  performed  the  requisite  service  ' 
for  the  whole  assembled  host  in  the  wilderness. 

158.  Further,  in  Jo.  xxi,  we  have  an  account  of  the 
forty-eight  Levitical  cities  ;  and  we  read  v.  19,  '  All  the 
cities  of  the  children  of  Aaron,  the  Priests,  were  thir- 
teen cities,  with  their  suburbs.' 

At  this  time,  according  to  the  story,  there  was  cer- 
tainly one  son  of  Aaron,  Eleazar,  and  one  grandson, 
Phinehas,  and  his  family.  Ithamar,  Aaron's  other  son, 
Tnay  have  been  alive ;  but  no  mention  whatever  is 
made  of  him.  We  may  suppose,  however,  that  he  had 
sons  and  daughters.  For  this  small  number  of  persons, 
then,  there  are  provided  here  thirteen  cities  and  their 
suburbs,  and  all,  let  it  be  observed,  in  the  immediate 
9 


104    iNlMBEK  OF    PKIEST8,  THEIR   DUTIES    AND    PEKQUISITES. 

neighhourhood  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  Temjple  was 
biiiU,  and  where  the  presence  of  the  Priests  was  espe- 
cially required,  but  in  a  later  age.  Scott  notes  as  fol- 
lows : — 

The  fiimily  of  Aaron  could  not  at  this  time  have  been  very  numerous  (!), 
though  it  had  increased  considerably  (!)  since  his  appointment  to  the  Priest- 
hood. Yet  thirteen  cities  were  allotted  to  it  as  a  patrimony,  in  the  divine 
knowledge  of  its  future  enlargement.  For  we  have  reason  to  think  that 
no  other  family  increased  so  much  in  proportion  after  Israel's  departure 
from  Egypt,  as  that  of  Aaron. 

The  only  conceivable  reason  for  so  thinking  is  the 
fact  now  before  us,  viz.  that  thirteen  cities  were  assigned 
to  them.  We  do  not  find  the  sons  of  Aaron  numerous 
in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  or  in  Eli's  time,  or  Samuel's, 
or  David's,  or  Solomon's,  (except,  indeed,  in  the  record 
of  the  Chronicler.)  Aaron  himself  had  at  most  only 
two  sons  living,  and  one  of  these  had  only  one  son. 


CHAPTEE  XXL 

THE   PEIESTS   AND   THEIK    DUTIES   AT   THE   CELEBEATION   OF 
THE   PASSOVEK. 

159.  Again,  how  did  these  three  Priests  manage  at 
tlie  celebration  of  the  Passover  ? 

We  are  told,  2  Ch.  xxx.  16,  xxxv.  11,  that  the  peo- 
ple killed  the  Passover,  hut  '  the  Priests  s_prinJded  the 
Mood  from  their  hands,  and  the  Levites  flayed  them.' 
Hence,  when  they  kept  the  second  passover  under  Sinai, 
N.  ix.  5,  where  we  must  suj)pose  that  150,000  lambs 
(70)  were  killed  at  one  time  '  between  the  two  even- 
ings,' E.  xii.  6,  for  the  two  millions  of  people,  each 
Priest  must  have  had  to  sprinkle  the  blood  of  50,000 
lambs  in  about  two  hours,  that  is,  at  the  rate  of  about 
four  hundred  lambs  every  mimite  for  two  hours  to- 
gether. 

Besides  which,  in  the  time  of  Hezekiah  and  Josiah, 
when  it  was  desired  to  keep  the  Passov^er  strictly,  '  in 
such  sort  as  it  was  written,'  2  Ch.  xxx.  5,  the  lambs 
were  manifestly  killed  in  the  Court  of  the  Temple. 
We  must  suppose,  then,  tliat  the  Paschal  lambs  in  the 
wilderness  were  killed  z'/i  the  Court  of  the  Tabernacle, 
in  accordance,  in  fact,  with  the  strict  injunctions  of  the 
Levitical  Law,  that  all  burnt-offerings,  peace-offerings, 


196  THE   PKIESTS   AND   THEIR   DUTIES. 

sin-offerings,  and  trespass-offerings,  should  be  killed 
'  before  Jehovah,'  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the 
Congregation. 

160.  Thus  we  read  in  the  case  of  a  burnt-offering, 
L.  i.  3,  5,— 

'  He  shall  offer  it  of  his  ovra  voluntary  will  at  the  door  of  the  Taber- 
nacle of  the  Congregation.  And  he  shall  kill  the  bullock  before  Jehovah  ; 
and  the  Priests,  Aaron's  sons,  shall  bring  the  blood,  and  sprinkle  the  blood 
round  about  upon  the  Altar,  that  is,  by  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the 
Congregation? 

So  in  the  case  of  a  peace-offering,  L.  iii.  2, — 

'  He  shall  lay  his  hand  upon  the  head  of  his  offering,  and  kill  it  at  the 
door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation  ;  and  Aaron's  sons,  the  Priests, 
shall  sprinkle  the  blood  upon  the  Altar  round  about.'  See  L.  i.  3,  5, 11, 15, 
iii.  2,  8, 13,iv.4,  6,  &c. 

Besides  all  which,  we  have  this  most  solemn  com- 
mand, laid  down  in  L.  xvii.  2-6,  with  the  penalty  of 
death  attached  for  disobedience. 

'  This  is  the  thing  which  Jehovah  hath  commanded,  saying,  What  man 
soever  there  be  of  the  House  of  Israel,  that  Hlleth  an  ox,  or  lamb,  or  goat, 
in  the  Camp,  or  that  killeth  it  out  of  the  Camp,  and  bringeth  it  not  u7ito 
the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation,  to  offer  an  ofiFering  unto 
Jehovah,  blood  shall  be  imputed  unto  that  man,  he  hath  shed  blood,  and 
that  man  shall  be  cut  off  from  among  his  people ;  to  the  end  that  the 
children  of  Israel  may  bring  their  sacrifiees,  which  they  offer  in  the  open 
field,  even  that  they  may  bring  them  unto  Jehovah,  unto  the  door  of  the 
Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation,  unto  the  Priest,  and  offer  them  for  peace- 
offerings  unto  Jehovah.  And  the  Priest  shall  sprinkle  the  blood  v2)on  the 
Altar  of  Jehovah,  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Cojigregation,  and 
burn  the  fat  (suet)  for  a  sweet  savour  unto  Jehovah.' 

161.  How,  in  fact,  could  the  Priests  have  sprinkled 
the  blood  at  all,  if  this  were  not  the  case,  that  the  ani- 
mals were  killed  in  tlie  Court  of  the  Tabernacle  ? 

But  the  area  of  that  Court  contained,  as  we  have 
seen  (38),  only  1,692  square  yards,  and  could  only  have 


AT   THE    CELEBRATION    OF   THE    PASSOVER.  197 

held,  when  thronged,  about  5,000  people.  How  then 
are  we  to  conceive  of  150,000  lambs  being  killed  within 
it  by,  at  least,  150,000  people,  in  the  space  of  two 
hours, — that  is,  at  the  rate  of  1,250  lambs  a  minute  f 

162.  I  will  here  copy  at  full  length,  and  consider 
carefully,  the  remarks  of  Kurtz  uj)on  these  difficulties, 
iii.  211-214 :— 

'  It  is  by  no  means  an  easy  matter  to  picture  to  one's  self  the  plan  pur- 
sued in  the  celebration  of  this,  the  first,  memorial-feast  of  the  Passover, 
N.  ix.  5.  The  difficulty  arises  from  the  small  number  of  Priests  who  could 
be  employed.  There  were  only  thi'ee  left  after  the  death  of  Nadab  and 
Abihu,  viz.  Aaron,  Eleazar,  and  Ithamar.  Now,  if  we  assume  that  all  the 
lambs  were  ^lain  at  the  S.anctuary,  according  to  the  injunction  contained  in 
D.  xvi.  2,  5,  6,  and  consider  further  that  but  a  very  few  [two*]  hours  were 
set  apart  for  the  slaughter  of  the  lambs,  whilst,  according  to  the  laws  of  sac- 
rifice, which  were  then  in  force,  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  at  all  events, 
was  to  be  performed  by  the  Priests,  it  might  be  thought  that  the  number 
of  Priests,  whose  services  could  be  obtained,  would  hardly  suffice  for  the 
work  to  be  done. 

'  For,  if  we  suppose  the  people  to  have  numbered  about  two  milhon 
souls,  and  reckon  on  an  average  one  lamb  to  every  fifteen  or  twenty  per- 
sons, (the  proportion  laid  down  in  E.  xii.  4,)  there  must  have  been  from 
100,000  to  140,000  Iambs  slain,  and  the  blood  sprinkled  on  the  Altar, — a 
process  for  which  neither  the  time  allowed,  nor  the  number  of  the  Priests, 
can  by  any  possibility  have  sufficed.' 

Ans.  There  is  no  '  proportion '  whatever  laid  down  in  E.  xii.  4.  Jose- 
PHUS,  as  we  have  seen  (70),   reckons  ten  persons  to  each  lamb.      But 

*KcETZ  allows,  ii.  301,  that  the  Caraites  and  Samaritans  are  right  in 
explaining  the  expression  '  between  the  two  evenings '  to  mean  '  the  period 
between  the  disappearance  of  the  sun  below  the  horizon  and  the  time  when 
it  is  quite  dark,  ♦'jat  is,  from  six  o'clock  till  about  half-past  seven.  Thus 
the  first  evening  begins  with  the  disappearance  of  the  sun,  the  second  with 
the  cessation  of  daylight.     Aden-Ezra  gives  the  same  explanation.' 

Hence  the  time  allowed  for  the  killing  of  the  Passover  was,  in  fact,  the 
time  of  twilight^  and  cannot,  therefore,  have  been  more  than  two  hours, 
as  we  have  reckoned  it.  And  so  writes  Josephus  {De  Bell.  Judd.  vi.  9,  3), 
'  They  slay  their  sacrifices  at  the  Passover  from  the  ninth  hour  to  the 
eleventh.' 


198  THE   PKIESTS    AND   THEIE   DUTIES 

Kurtz's  own  estimate  will  suffice  for  our  present  purpose.  If  there  were 
only  120,000  lumbs,  it  would  follow  that  they  would  have  had  to  be  killed 
at  the  rate  of  1,000  a  minute,  and  each  Priest,  therefore,  would  have  had 
to  sprinkle  the  blood  of  333  lambs  a  minute  for  two  hours  together. 

'  But  are  we  justified  in  making  such  an  assumption  ?  It  is  nowhere  stated 
that,  on  the  occasion  of  this  first  festival  in  commemoration  of  the  Exo- 
dus, the  lambs  were  slaughtered  at  the  Sanctuary,  or  that  their  blood  either 
was,  or  was  to  be,  sprinkled  upon  the  Altar ;  nor  is  there  any  notice  of  the 
services  of  the  Priests  being  required.  But  does  this  silence  give  us  a  right 
altogether  to  deny  that  the  work  in  question  was  performed  by  the  Priests  ? 
In  E.  xxiii.  17,  it  is  commanded  that,  at  the  annual  Feast  of  the  Passover, 
all  the  men  in  Israel  should  '  appear  before  the /ace  of  Jehovah.'  In  D.  xvi. 
2,  5,6,  it  is  expressly  forbidden  to  slay  the  Paschal  lambs  anywhere  else  than 
at  '  the  place,  which  Jehovah  shall  choose  to  place  His  Name  there.'  And, 
according  to  2  Ch.  xxx.  16,  xxxv.  11,  though  it  is  nowhere  expressly  com- 
manded in  the  Pentateuch,  the  blood  of  all  the  Paschal  lambs  was  sprink- 
led on  the  Altar  by  the  Priests.  At  the  same  time  there  is  certainly  good 
ground  for  questioning  whether  the  same  course  was  adopted,  in  all  respects, 
in  connection  with  the  Passover  at  Sinai.' 

Ans.  Would  there,  however,  have  been  any  questioning  at  all  upon 
this  subject,  but  for  the  very  great  difiiculties  here  raised  ? 

'E.  xxiii.  17  and  D.  xvi.  2,  o,  6,  relate  particularly  to  the  time,  when  the 
Israelites  would  be  scattered  in  the  various  cities  of  the  Promised  Land,  and 
far  removed  from  the  Sanctuary.' 

Atis.  But,  if  they  were  required  to  '  appear  before  Jehovah,'  when  the 
Holy  Place  was  so  far  away  from  their  homes,  surely,  a  fortiori,  they  were 
required  to  do  so  in  the  wilderness,  when  the  Tabernacle  was  close  at  hand. 

And,  besides  the  command  in  D.  xvi.  2,  5,  6,  here  referred  to,  we  have 
that  already  quoted  from  L.  xvii.  2-6,  which  expressly  refers  to  the  '  Cartp.' 

'  And  the  passages  in  Chronicles  refer  to  the  reigns  of  the  later  kings,  . 
just  before  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah.' 

Ans.  On  the  first  of  these  occasions  it  is  expressly  said,  they  had  not 
kept  the  Passover  '  of  a  long  time  in  such  sort  as  it  was  written,'  2  Ch.  xxx. 
5.  So  that  all  that  was  done  at  this  Passover,  was  meant  to  be  done  in  ex- 
press agreement  with  what  '  was  written.'  If,  then,  there  is  no  specific  di- 
rection that  the  blood  of  the  Paschal  lambs  should  be  sprinkled  by  the 
Priests,  yet  it  was  clearly  understood,  according  to  the  Chronicler,  by  the 
Priests  and  Prophets  of  Hezekiah's  time,  that  such  was  the  Divine  com- 
mand in  respect  of  the  Passover,  as  well  as  in  respect  of  every  other  sa- 
crif.ce. 


AT   THE   CELEBRATION    OE   THE   PASSOVEK.  199 

'  These  facts  might  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  slaughter  of  the  lambs 
did  not  take  place  at  the  Sanctuary,  till  after  the  Israelites  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  Holy  Land ;  and  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  on  the  part  of 
the  Priests  was  probably  introduced  at  a  still  later  period.' 

Ans.  But  the  difticulty,  attending  the  slaughtering  of  so  many  lambs, 
in  so  small  a  space,  in  so  short  a  time,  would  have  been  just  the  same, 
whether  it  took  place  when  the  Tabernacle  was  set  up  at  Shiloh  in  the  land 
of  Canaan,  Jo.  xviii.  1,  or  while  it  was  still  erected  in  the  wilderness.  And 
the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  is  enjoined  in  the  case  of  any  sacrifice  of  any 
kind,  L.  xvii.  6. 

'  To  such  a  supposition,  however,  there  are  by  no  means  unimportant 
objections.  For,  if  the  slaughter  of  the  lambs  was  to  take  place  at  the 
Sanctuary  in  the  time  of  Joshua,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  this  should  not 
also  have  been  the  case  in  the  time  of  Moses,  seeing  that  the  Tabernacle 
was  already  erected,  and  the  services  in  connection  with  it  were  regularly 
performed.  And,  if  the  slaughter  of  the  lambs  was  necessarily  associated 
with  the  Sanctuary,  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  appears  to  have  been  associa- 
ted with  it  as  a  matter  of  course ;  for  this  alone  could  give  significance  to 
all  the  rest,  and,  according  to  all  analogy,  it  must  be  done  by  Priestly 
hands.' 

163.  The  candour  of  Dr.  Kurtz  is  thus  far  apparent, 
though  he  is  evidently  struggling  with  a  great  diffi- 
culty, and  hardly  knows  how  to  master  it.  TV"e  shall 
now  see  the  extraordinary  efibrt  which  he  makes  to  do 
so,  in  direct  violation  of  the  plain  meaning  of  the 
Scripture. 

^  Let  us  look  again,  however,  and  a  little  more  closely,  at  D.  xvi.  We 
have  been  led  away  by  recent  custom,  and,  in  what  wo  have  already 
written,  have  interpreted  it  as  commanding  the  Paschal  lamb  to  be  slain 
in  the  fore-court  of  the  Tabernacle.  But  there  is  not  a  word  to  that  effect. 
The  passage  is  worded  thus  :  '  Thou  mayest  not  sacrifice  the  Passover  in 
any  one  of  thy  cities,  which  Jehovah  will  give  thee  ;  but  at  the  place,  which 
Jehovah  shall  choose  to  place  His  Name  in,  there  thou  shalt  sacrifice  the 
Passover  at  even. '  This  place  is  not  the  Tabernacle,  nor  the  fore-court  of 
the  Tabernacle,  but  the  City  (or  the  Camp),  in  the  midst  of  which  the 
Tabernacle  was  erected.  The  pilgrimage  to  this  place,  which  is  here  en- 
joined, was  required  by  the  distance  of  the  cities  of  the  land  in  which 
Israel  dwelt.  By  means  of  this  pilgrimage,  on  the  part  of  all  the  Israelit- 
ish  men,  to  the  city  of  the  Sanctuary,  the  same  state  of  things,  which  ex- 


200  THE   PKIEST8   AND   THEIK   DUTIES 

isted  when  all  Israel  lived  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Sanctu- 
ary, was  to  be  reproduced  at  least  three  times  a  year.  Hence  it  was  no 
violation  of  the  precept  in'D.  xvi,  if  every  family  killed  its  own  lamb  in 
its  own  house  ov  tent ;  for,  even  in  this  case,  the  lamb  was  slain  at  (he 
Sanctuary,  seeing  that  the  Camp,  which  surrounded  the  Tabernacle  on  all 
sides  in  the  same  manner  as  the  fore-court,  (though  with  a  much  larger 
circumference,)  or  the  City,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  Tabernacle  was 
erected,  was,  as  it  were,  a  second  and  larger  fore-court,  which  was  also 
holy,  though  not  in  the  same  degree.  It  was  commanded,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, that  everything  unclean  should  be  removed  from  the  Camp.' 

Ans.  This  is  all  pure  conjecture,  without  a  shadow  of  ground  for  it, — 
rather,  in  direct  opposition  to  all  the  practice  in  later  days,  as  shown  in  2 
Oh.  XXX,  XXXV,  and  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  all  the  directions  in  the  book 
of  Leviticus,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  expressly  commanded,  that  all 
burnt -offerings,  peace-offerings,  sin-offerings,  trespass-offerings,  shall  be 
killed  '  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation,^  and  the  blood 
'  sprinkled  upon  the  altar  round  about,'  as  well  as  to  the  general  very 
solemn  command,  for  all  kinds  of  sacrifices,  in  L.  xvii.  2-6. 

'The  large  number  of  lambs  to  be  slain  imperatively  demanded  \ha.t 
this  second  and  more  extensive  fore-court  should  be  provided  for  the 
slaughter  of  the  Paschal  lambs.  For  how  could  more  than  100,000  lambs 
by  any  possibility  have  been  killed,  in  so  short  a  space  of  time,  within  an 
area  of  about  4,600  square  yards,  [rather,  1,692  square  yards,  see  (38)], 
which  was  the  utmost  extent  of  the  actual  fore-court? ' 

Ans.  The  question  is  pertinent  enough.  The  'imperative  demand,' 
however,  is  made  only  by  the  necessity  of  the  case,  arising  from  the  utter 
impossibility  of  the  story  as  told  in  the  Pentateuch. 

'  We  are  brought  to  the  conclusion,  therefore,  that  the  Mosaic  Law  per- 
mitted the  lambs  to  be  killed  in  private  houses,  provided  the  houses  were 
within  the  Camp  or  City,  in  which  the  Tabernacle  was  erected.  The  cir- 
cumstance, which  first  led  to  this,  ceased  after  the  erection  of  the  Temple, 
as  the  fore-court  was  then  of  incomparably  greater  extent;  and  the  custom 
of  slaying  all  the  lambs  at  the  Temple,  which  we  meet  with  in  2  Ch. 
XXX,  XXXV,  may  have  been  introduced,  as  soon  as  the  Temple  was  built.' 

Ans.  That  is  to  say,  in  order  to  explain  away  an  insuperable  difficulty, 
Kurtz  supposes,  without  a  shadow  of  support  from  the  Scripture  for  so 
doing,  that  almost  the  very  first  act  of  Moses,  after  the  Tabernacle  had 
been  erected,  and  the  laws  of  Divine  service  distinctly  laid  down  with  re- 
gard to  it,  was  to  sanction  a  direct  breach  of  them, — especially  of  the  law 
just  quoted  from  L.  xvii.  2-6. 


AT   THE    CELEBEATTON   OF   THE   PASSOVEK.  201 

164.  Kurtz  now  proceeds  to  consider  the  other  diffi- 
culty. 

'  A  far  greater  difficulty  presents  itself  in  the  supposed  sprinkling  of  the 
blood  by  the  Priests.  But  what  were  the  actual  facts  of  the  case  ?  When 
the  Tabernacle  was  first  instituted,  it  was  commanded  that  the  blood  of 
the  lambs  should  be  smeared  on  the  door-posts  of  the  respective  houses, 
E.  xii.  1. 

'  This  command  is  nowhere  expressly  revoked  or  changed.  We  are 
of  opinion,  nevertheless,  that  the  altered  circumstances  led,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  after  the  erection  of  the  Sanctuai'y,  to  the  sprinkling  of  the 
blood  on  the  Altar,  in  the  place  of  smearing  on  the  door-posts  ;  and  the 
book  of  Chronicles  shows  that  this  was  actually  the  custom.' 

Ans.  Certainly  this  command  could  not  have  been  carried  out,  either  in 
the  desert,  where  the  people  lived  in  tents,  and  there  were  no  door-posts  to 
be  smeared,  or  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  when  the  males  '  went  up,'  it  is  sup- 
posed, from  year  to  year,  to  keep  the  Passover  at  the  central  Sanctuary, 
whether  the  Tabernacle  of  Moses  or  that  of  David,  or,  in  later  days,  the 
Temple.  But  surely  it  is  strange  that  a  command,  supposed  to  be  Divine, 
should  have  had  to  be  set  aside,  as  impossible  to  be  obeyed,  on  the  very 
first  occasion  of  the  memorial  Feast  being  celebrated,  at  the  second  Pass- 
over, under  Sinai,  and  ever  after,  during  the  lifetime  of  that  whole  genera- 
tion,— more  especially  as  the  injunction  in  E.  xii.  24,  '  And  ye  shall  observe 
this  thing  for  an  ordinance  to  thee  and  to  thy  sons  for  ever,'  seems  to  have 
express  reference  to  this  very  ceremony,  which  had  just  been  described  in 
V.  22,  23.     And  so  writes  Kaliscii,  Exod.  p.  138, — 

'  According  to  tradition,  this  act  of  marking  the  door-posts  was  limited 
to  the  Passover  in  Egypt,  and  not  repeated  at-  its  later  celebrations,  although 
this  appears  to  be  against  the  clear  instructions  of  Moses,  v.  7,  22,  24.' 
And  again  he  observes,  Exod.  p.  155, — 

'It  would  appear  from  tlvo  context,  v.  23-27,  that  the  eternal  observ- 
ance here  enjoined  refers  to  the  maiking  of  the  door-posts  with  the  blood 
of  the  Paschal  lambs.  However,  the  traditional  Jewish  interpretation  (!) 
has  applied  it  to  the  general  precepts  concerning  the  Passover,  and  limited 
that  ceremony  only  to  that  one  Passover  in  Egypt.' 

At  all  events,  we  should  have  expected  that  some  provision  for  this 
state  of  things  would  have  been  made,  by  Divine  authority,  at  the  first 
institution  of  the  Passover,  or,  at  least,  that  some  intimation  of  so  remark- 
able a  modification  of  the  original  law  would  have  been  made  at  the  second 
celebration. 

'But  the  exceptional  character  of  the  Passover  warrants  the  assump- 
9* 


202  THE   PKIESTS    AND   THEIli    DUTIES 

tion,  that,  on  every  occasion,  just  as  on  the  first  celebration,  the  sprink- 
ling of  the  blood  might  be  performed  by  the  head  of  the  household  him- 
self. If  this  had  not  been  the  case,  we  should  most  likely  have  found 
some  intimation  in  the  account  of  the  second  Passover,  N.  ix,  of  the  coop- 
eration of  the  Priests.  We  are  warranted,  therefore,  in  adopting  the  cour 
elusion,  to  which  many  other  circumstances  point  (?),  that,  on  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Passover,  the  Priestly  vocation,  which,  according  to  E.  xix. 
6,  '  And  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  Priests,  and  a  holy  nation,' 
originally  belonged  to  all  the  Israelites,  retained  its  validity  as  an  excep- 
tional case,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  in  mind  the  calling^  which  they 
had  voluntarily  declined  from  a  consciousness  of  their  weakness,  '  Speak 
thou  with  us  and  we  will  hear  ;  but  let  not  God  speak  with  us,  lest  we  die,' 
E.  XX.  19, — the  realisation  of  which  was  merely  postponed,  and  not  sus- 
pended altogether,  and  to  the  full  possession  of  which  they  would  certainly 
eventually  attain.  The  outward  warrant  for  the  discharge  of  this  excep- 
tional Priestly  function,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Passover,  might  possibly  be 
found  in  the  fact,  that  the  words  of  E.  xx.  19  had  not  yet  been  spoken, 
that  is  to  say,  the  suspension  of  the  Priestly  calling  had  not  been  solicited 
or  granted,  at  the  time  when  the  Passover  was  first  instituted.' 

Ans.  Can  any  one  suppose  that,  if  these  words  had  not  been  spoken, 
there  would  have  been  no  '  suspension  of  the  Priestly  calling '  of  the  Israel- 
ites, no  Priests  specially  set  apart  for  the  service  of  the  Tabernacle,  no 
peculiar  Priestly  duties  assigned  to  them,  which  others  might  not  perform 
on  pain  of  death,  as  laid  down  in  the  books  of  Leviticus  and  Numbers? 
Nay,  before  the  above  words  were  spoken,  we  actually  read  of  '  the  Priests, 
that  come  near  to  Jehovah,'  E.  xix.  22 :  so  that,  whatever  this  last  expres- 
sion may  mean,  whoever  these  Priests  may  have  been,  (as  the  Aaronical 
Priesthood  was  not  yet  in  existence,)  we  must  suppose  that  the  idea  of  a 
Priesthood  of  some  kind  was  already  existing  among  them.  It  is  certainly 
true  that  the  references  to  the  Passover,  in  the  books  of  Exodus  and  Num- 
bers, do  not  appear  to  imply  in  any  way  that  the  Priests  were  called  into 
action  in  the  celebration  of  this  Feast.  But  that  very  circumstance  occasions 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  difficulties,  which  are  here  presented.  For  how  is 
this  fact  to  be  explained,  in  the  face  of  the  very  solemn  injunction  quoted 
above  (IGO)  fromL.  xvii  ?  What,  therefore,  Kcrtz  gains  in  one  direction 
for  the  relief  of  his  perplexity,  by  supposing  the  inaction  of  the  Priests 
at  the  second  and  subsequent  celebrations  of  the  Passover,  he  loses  in  the 
other. 

'  It  is  true  that  the  passages  already  quoted  from  the  Chronicles  prove 
that,  at  a  later  period,  it  was  the  custom  for  the  blood  to  be  sprinkled  by 
the  Priests,  even  on  the  occasion  of  the  Passover.    But  this  may  have  been 


AT  THE  CELEBRATION  OF  THE  PASSOVEP      203 

one  of  the  very  numerous  modifications,  which  were  introduced  into  the 
worship,  in  consequence  of  the  erection  of  the  Temple.' 

Ans.  But  Hezekiah  desired  to  have  the  Passover  kept  strictly  'in  such 
sort  as  it  was  written.'  And,  surely,  it  is  preposterous  to  assume,  on  the 
one  hand,  as  Kurtz  does,  that,  after  the  first  Passover,  the  blood  was 
sprinkled  on  the  Altar  in  the  Court  of  the  Tabernacle,  at  all  events  while 
the  people  lived  in  the  wilderness,  and  then,  on  the  other  hand,  to  assume 
also  that  it  was  7iof  sprinkled  by  the  Priests.  Can  anything,  in  fact,  be 
more  plain  than  the  language  in  2  Ch.  xxx.  16,  'And  (hey  stood  in  their 
place,  after  their  manner,  according  to  the  Law  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God  : 
the  Priests  sprinkled  the  blood,  from  the  hand  of  the  Levites  ? ' 

The  truth  is,  that  the  diflSculty,  which  exists  in  this 
part  of  the  story  of  the  Pentateuch,  is  as  evident  to 
Kurtz's  eyes  as  it  is  to  our  own,  though  he  cannot  as 
yet  bring  himself  to  acknowledge  it,  as  involving  an 
impossibility. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE     WAR     ON     MIDIAN. 


165.  We  have  now  concluded  onr  preliminary  work 
of  pointing  out  some  of  the  most  prominent  inconsist- 
encies and  impossibilities,  which  exist  in  the  story  of 
the  Exodus  as  it  lies  before  us  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  and 
we  have  surely  exhibited  enough,  to  relieve  the  mind 
from  any  superstitious  dread,  in  j^ursuing  further  the 
consideration  of  this  question.  I  believe  that  to  the 
great  majority  of  my  readers  many  of  the  above  facts 
will  be  new,  as,  I  freely  admit,  they  were  to  myself 
till  within  a  comparatively  recent  period.  It  seems 
strange  that  this  should  be  so  ;  but  the  power  of  habit 
is  great,  or,  as  an  able  writer  has  otherwise  expressed 
it  from  his  own  point  of  view,  the  Eev.  A.  W.  Haddan, 
lieplles  to  Essays  and  Reviews^  p.  348, — 

One  has  groat  faith  iu  the  mere  inertia  of  religious  behef. 

166.  But  that  the  case  is  really  as  I  have  stated  it, 
viz.  that  the  Clergy  and  Laity  of  England  generally 
have  not  had  these  facts  before  their  eyes  at  all,  is 
proved  to  my  own  mind  most  forcibly  by  the  simple 
circumstance,  that  in  neither  of  the  two  volumes, 
'  Aids  to  Faith  '  and  '  Replies  to  Essays  and  Reviews,' 


THE   WAR   ON   MIDIAN.  205 

both  brought  out  under  especial  episcopal  sanction, 
for  the  very  purpose  of  settling  the  doubts,  wJiicli 
might  be  raised  in  the  minds  of  many  by  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  Essayists,  scarcely  any  reference  what- 
ever is  made  to  any  one  of  the  above  primary  difficul- 
ties, which  l)eset  the  question  of  the  historical  accuracy 
of  the  Mosaic  story.  In  the  latter  volume,  to  which 
we  were  to  look  for  '  a  calm,  comprehensive,  scholar- 
like  declaration  of  positive  truth  upon  all  the  matters  in 
dispute,'  I  find  not  the  slightest  notice  taken  of  any  one 
of  them  ;  and  a  very  large  portion  of  more  than  one  of  tho 
'  Keplies '  is,  as  it  appears  to  me,  unproiitably  occupied  in 
the  mere  censure — not  to  say,  abuse — of  the  adversary. 
I  opened  this  book  with  great  interest,  from  the  names 
of  the  authors,  and  the  high  sanction  under  which  it 
had  been  issued,  and  eagerly  sought  in  it  for  something 
of  importance,  bearing  upou  the  question  now  before 
us.  I  must  confess  to  have  put  it  down  with  a  painful 
sense  of  disappointment. 

167.  On  turning,  however,  to  the  other  volume, 
'  Aids  to  Faith,'  I  find  Prof.  Rawlinson  writing  as  fol- 
lows, 2J-  252 : — 

The  authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch  has  been  recently  called  in  question, 
principally  on  the  following  points : — 

(i)  The  chronology,  which  is  regarded  as  very  greatly  in  deficiency  ; 

(ii)  The  account  given  of  the  Flood,  which  is  supposed  to  magnify  a 
great  calamity  in  Upper  Asia  into  a  general  destruction  of  the  human  race ; 

(iii)  The  ethnological  views,  which  are  said  to  be  sometimes  mistaken ; 

(iv)  The  patriarchal  genealogies,  which  are  charged  with  being  purely 
mythical ; 

(v)  The  length  of  the  lives  of  the  patriarclis,  which  is  thought  to  be 
simply  impossible ; 

(vi)  Tlie  duration  of  the  sojourn  in  Egypt,  which  is  considered  incom- 
patible with  the  number  of  the  Israelites  on  entering  and  quitting  the 
country. 


206  THE   WAR   ON   MIDIAN.' 

Eacli  of  the  above  points  will  be  found  noticed  in 
its  proper  place  in  the  course  of  this  work.  It  will  be 
observed,  liowever,  that  the  above  w^riter  has  in  (vi) 
touched  upon  one,  and  only  one,  of  the  serious  ques- 
tions, which  have  been  discussed  at  length  in  the  fore- 
going pages,  and  even  that,  as  we  have  seen  (141),  he 
has  treated  only  generally  and  superficially.  The  other 
'  principal  points  of  objection,'  which  he  considers, 
though  not  without  weight  in  themselves,  are  of  no  im- 
portance whatever  in  reference  to  the  present  argument, 
wiiich  is  already  completed,  without  our  having  had  as 
yet  occasion  to  enter  upon  any  examination  of  them. 

168.  From  the  above  considerations  it  surely  fol- 
lows, that  the  account  of  the  Exodus  of  the  Israelites, 
as  given  in  the  Pentateuch,  whatever  real  foundation 
it  may  have  had  in  the  ancient  history  of  the  people,  is 
mixed  up,  at  all  events,  with  so  great  an  amount  of 
contradictory  matter,  that  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  his- 
torically true,  so  as  to  be  appealed  to,  as  absolute,  in- 
contestable matter  of  fact  in  Church  formularies. 

For,  let  it  be  observed,  the  objections,  which  have 
been  produced,  are  not  such  as  touch  only  one  or 
two  points  of  the  story.  They  affect  the  entire  sub- 
stance of  it,  and,  until  they  are  removed,  they  make  it 
impossible  for  a  thoughtful  person  to  receive,  without 
further  enquiry,  any  considerable  portion  of  it,  as  cer- 
tainly time  in  an  historical  point  of  view.  It  is  plain 
that,  in  its  own  essential  statements  of  matters  of  fact, 
the  narrative  of  the  Exodus  is  full  of  contradictions. 

169.  We  cannot  here  have  recourse  to  the  ordinary 
supposition,  that  there  may  be  something  wrong 
in  the  Hebrew  numerals.  This  suggestion  will  not 
avail  here,  however  it  might  be  applied  in  other  cases 


THE    -WAR   ON    MIDIAN.  207 

to  reduce  within  tlie  bounds  of  probability  the  extrava- 
gant statements  of  Hebrew  writers, — such  as  that  in 
Ju.  xii.  6,  where  we  are  told  that  the  Gileadites  under 
Jephthah  slew  of  their  brethren,  the  Ephrainiites,  42,- 
000  men,  or  that  in  Ju.  xx.,  where,  first,  the  Benja- 
mitcs  slay  of  the  Israelites,  40,000  men,  v.  21,  25,  and 
then  the  Israelites  kill  of  the  Benjamites  43,100,  v.  35, 
44,  all  these  being  '  men  of  valour,'  that  '  drew  the 
sword,' — or  that  in  1  S.  iv.  10,  where  the  Philistines 
slew  of  Israel  30,000  footmen,  or  in  1  S.  xiii.  5,  where 
the  Philistines  had  30,000  war-chariots,  or  in  2  S.  x.  18, 
where  David  slew  of  the  S,yrians  40,000  horsemen,  or 
in  2  Ch.  xxviii.  6,  8,  where  Pekali,  king  of  Israel,  slew 
of  Judali  in  one  day  120,000  '  sons  of  valour,'  and  car- 
ried away  captive  200,000  '  women,  sons,  and  daugh- 
ters,' or  in  2  Ch.  xiii.  3,  where  Abijah's  force  consisted 
of  400,000,  and  Jeroboam's  of  800,000,  and  Judah  slew 
Israel,  v.  17,  '  with  a  great  slaughter  ;  so  there  fell 
down  slain  of  Israel  500,000  chosen  men  !  !  ! ' — it  being 
remembered  that,  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  there  were 
killed  of  the  allies,  '  British,  Germans,  Hanoverians, 
Brunswickers,  men  of  Nassau,  Belgians,  and  Prussians,' 
altogether  only  4,172  men,  (Alison's  Hist,  of  Earojyc, 
xix.  ]}.  372.)  * 

*  So  JosEPHUS  in  his  Autobiography,  ch.  G,  states  that  the  people  of 
Seythopolis  fell  upon  the  Jews,  '  their  fellow-citizens  and  confederates,  and 
slew  them  all,  being  in  number  many  ten  thoiisands.  But,'  he  adds,  '  we 
have  given  a  more  accurate  account  of  these  things  in  the  books  of  the 
Jewish  War.'  On  turning  to  the  Jewish  War,  ii.  18.  3,  we  find  the  num- 
ber stated  as  '  above  13,000.'  Most  probably,  neither  statement  is  correct ; 
and,  in  fact,  Joskphus's  numbers  are  very  frequently  as  extravagant  and 
unreal  as  those  of  the  Scripture  writers.  It  is  an  idle,  or  rather,  it  is  a  sin- 
ful, paltering  with  the  truth,  to  attempt  to  explain  away  so  many  cases  of 
this  kind  by  supposing  on  every  such  occasion  an  error  of  a  .scribe.  This 
might  avail  to  account  for  two  or  three  such  instances.     But  it  is  impos- 


208  the'  war  on  midian. 

170.  But  as  regards  the  Pentateuch,  not  only  is  the 
number  '  600,000  on  foot,  besides  women  and  children,' 
given  distinctly  in  E.  xii.  37,  at  the  time  of  their  leav- 
ing Egypt ;  but  we  have  it  recorded  again,  thrice  over, 
in  different  forms,  in  E.  xxxviii.  25-28,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  forty  years'  wanderings,  when  the  number 
of  all  that  '  went  to  be  numbered,  from  twenty  years 
old  and  upward,'  is  reckoned  at  603,550  ;  and  this  is 
repeated  again  in  N.  i.  46  ;  and  it  is  modified  once 
more,  at  the  end  of  the  wanderings,  to  601,730,  ]^. 
xxvi,  51.  Besides  which,  on  each  occasion  of  number- 
ing, each  separate  tribe  is  numbered,  and  the  sum  of 
the  separate  results  makes  up  the  whole. 

Thus  this  number  is  woven,  as  a  kind  of  thread,  into 
the  whole  story  of  the  Exodus,  and  cannot  be  taken  out, 
without  tearing  the  whole  fabric  to  pieces.  It  affects, 
directly,  the  account  of  the  construction  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, E.  xxxviii.  25-28,  and,  therefore,  also  the  reality 
of  the  institutions,  whether  of  the  Priesthood  or  of 

sible  for  us  not  to  perceive  that  a  systematic  hahit  of  exaggeration  in  respect 
of  numbers  prevails  among  Hebrew  writers  of  history,  probably  from  not 
'realising  to  their  own  minds  the  actual  meaning  and  magnitude  of  the  num- 
bers employed.  And  this  is  more  especially  true  of  the  Chronicler,  wit- 
ness the  following  statements  which  he  makes  in  the  course  of  his  narrative, 
besides  those  above  quoted.  Thus  Asa's  force  consisted  of  580,000,  Zerah's 
of  1,000,000,  2  Ch.  xiv.  8,  9,  Jehoshaphat's  of  1,160,000,  'besides  those 
whom  the  king  put  in  all  the  fenced  cities  throughout  all  Judah,'  xvii. 
14-19 ;  Amaziah  marches  against  the  Edomites,  with  300,000,  and  hires 
100,000  more  out  of  Israel,  xxv.  5,  6;  Uzziah's  force  consisted  of  307,500, 
xxvi.  18.  The  kingdom  of  Judah  contained  about  2,500  square  miles,  that 
is,  in  extent  it  was  about  half  as  large  as  the  counties  of  Norfolk,  Suffolk, 
and  Essex  together ;  but  in  Jehoshaphat's  time  it  contained,  according  to 
2  Ch.  xvii.  14-19,  1,160,000  warriors,  that  is,  about  4,000,000  of  inhabi- 
tants ;  in  other  words,  it  was  eight  times  as  thickly  peopled  as  the  three 
Eastern  Counties  in  the  present  day,  and  yet  a  great  part  of  Judah  was 
very  unfruitful. 


THE    WAK    ON    MIDIAN".  200 

Sacrifice,  connected  with  it.  And  the  multiplied  impos- 
sibilities introduced  by  this  number  alone,  independent 
of  all  other  considerations,  are  enough  to  throw  dis- 
credit upon  the  historical  character  of  the  whole  nar- 
rative. 

ITl.  These  things  we  have  all  along  been  looking 
at,  as  it  were,  from  a  distant  point  of  view,  through  a 
uaisty  atmosphere,  dreading,  it  may  be,  some  of  us,  to 
approach  and  gaze  more  closely  upon  the  truth  itself, 
which,  once  clearly  seen,  must  dissipate  many  of  our 
most  cherished  convictions,  and  hardly  daring,  indeed, 
to  engage  in  (what  so  many  would  deem)  an  irreverent 
and  impious  undertaking.  To  those  of  my  readers, 
however,  who  have  followed  me  thus  far,  I  hope  it  Avill 
now  be  apparent,  that  there  is  no  longer  any  cause  for 
superstitious  terror,  in  respect  of  the  enquiries  which 
we  are  making, — rather  that  it  is  our  bounden  duty,  as 
servants  of  God,  the  very  God  of  Truth,  and  in  depend- 
ence on  His  help  and  blessing,  to  pursue  them  yet 
farther,  whatever  the  result  may  be,  fearing  no  evil,  for 
what  shall  harm  us,  if  we  are  followers  of  that  which  is 
right,  and  good,  and  true  ? 

172.  But  how  thankful  we  must  be,  that  we  are  no 
longer  obliged  to  believe,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  of  vital 
consequence  to  our  eternal  hope,  the  story  related  in  IST. 
xxxi,  where  we  are  told  that  a  force  of  12,000  Israelites 
'  slew  all  the  males  of  the  Midianites,  took  captive  all 
the  females  and  children,  seized  all  their  cattle  and 
flocks,  (72,000  oxen,  61,000  asses,  675,000  sheep,)  and 
all  their  goods,  and  burnt  all  their  cities,  and  all  their 
goodly  castles,'  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man, — and 
then,  by  command  of  Moses,  butchered  in  cold  blood 
all   the  women  and  children,  '  except  all  the  women- 


210  THE   WAR   ON   MIDIAN. 

children,  who  have  not  known  a  man  by  lying  with 
him.'  These  hist  the  Israelites  were  to  '  keep  for  them- 
selves.' They  amounted,  we  are  told,  to  32,000,  v.  35, 
mostly,  we  must  suppose,  under  the  age  of  sixteen  or 
eighteen.  We  may  fairly  reckon  that  there  were  as 
many  more  under  the  age  of  forty,  and  half  as  many 
more  above  forty,  making  altogether  80,000  females,  of 
whom,  according  to  the  story,  Moses  ordered  48,000  to 
be  killed,  besides  (say)  20,000  young  boys.  The  trage- 
dy of  Cawnpore,  where  300  were  butchered,  would  sink 
into  nothing,  compared  with  such  a  massacre,  if,  indeed, 
we  were  required  to  believe  it.  And  these  48,000  fe- 
males must  have  rej^resented  48,000  men,  all  of  whom, 
in  that  case,  we  must  also  believe  to  have  been  killed, 
their  property  pillaged,  their  castles  demolished,  and 
towns  destroyed,  by  12,000  Israelites,  w^ho,  in  addition, 
must  have  carried  off  100,000  captives,  (more  than  eight 
persons  to  each  man,)  and  driven  before  them  808,000 
head  of  cattle,  (more  than  sixty-seven  for  each  man,) 
and  all  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man  !  How  is  it 
possible  to  quote  the  Bible  as  in  any  way  condemning 
slavery,  when  we  read  here,  v.  40,  of  '  Jehovah's  trib- 
ute '  of  slaves,  thirty -two  persons  ? 

173.  But  it  may  be  well  at  once  to  show  that,  be- 
sides involving  the  above  incredible  statements,  the 
narrative  itself,  as  it  now  stands,  is  unhistorical  here  as 
elsewhere. 

(i)  We  are  told  that  Aaron  died  on  '  the  Jirst  day  of  the  Jifth  month' 
of  the  fortieth  year  of  the  wanderings,  N.  xxxiii.  38,  and  they  mourned  for 
him  a  month,  N.  xx.  29. 

(ii)  After  this,  '  king  Arad  the  Canaanite  fought  against  Israel,  and  took 
some  of  them  prisoners ; '  whereupon  the  Israelites  attacked  these  Canaan- 
ites,  and  utterly  destroyed  them  and  their  cities,'  N.  xxi.  1-3, — for  which 
two  transactions  we  may  allow  another  month. 


THE   WAK    ON    MIDIAN.  211 

(iii)  Then  tliey  'journeyed  from  Mount  Hor,  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea, 
to  compass  the  laud  of  Edom,'  N.  xxi.  4,  and  the  people  murmured,  and 
were  plagued  with  fiery  serpents,  and  Moses  set  up  the  serpent  of  brass,  N. 
xxi.  5-9,  for  all  which  we  must  allow,  at  least,  ^fortnight. 

(iv)  They  now  marched,  and  made  nine  encampments,  N,  xxi.  10-20, 
for  which  we  cannot  well  allow  less  than  a  month. 

We  believe  that,  at  every  station,  at  least  three  days'  rest  must  have 
been  required,     Kurtz,  iii.  p.  251. 

(v)  Then  they  sent  messengers  to  Sihon,  who  '  gathered  all  his  people 
together,  and  fought  against  Israel,'  and  '  Israel  smote  him  with  the  edge 
of  the  sword,'  and  'possessed  his  land  from  Arnon  unto  Jabbok,'  and  '  took 
all  these  cities,  and  dwelt  in  all  the  cities  of  the  Amorites,  in  Heshbon  and 
in  all  the  daughters  thereof,'  X.  xxi.  21-25, — for  which  we  may  allow  an- 
other month. 

(vi)  After  that  'Moses  sent  to  spy  out  Jaazer,  and  they  took  the  villages 
thereof,  and  drove  out  the  Amorites  that  were  there,'  N.  xxi.  32, — say,  in 
imoihci-  fortniglit. 

(vii)  Then  they  '  turned  up  by  the  way  of  Cashan,  and  Og,  the  king  of 
Bashan,  went  out  against  them,  and  they  smote  him,  and  his  sons,  and  all 
his  people^  until  there  was  none  left  him  alive,  and  they  possessed  his  laud.' 
N.  xxi.  33-35.  For  all  this  work  of  capturing  '  three-score  cities,  fenced 
with  high  walls,  gates,  and  bars,  besides  unwalled  towns,  a  great  many,'  D. 
iii.  4,  5,  we  must  allow,  at  the  very  least,  a  month. 

174.  Thus,  then,  from  the  ^ first  day  of  the  fifth 
month,''  on  which  Aaron  died,  to  the  completion  of  the 
conquest  of  Og,  king  of  Baslian,  we  cannot  reckon  less 
altogether  than  six  months,  (and,  indeed,  even  then  the 
events  will  have  been  crowded  one  upon  another  in  a 
most  astonishing,  and  really  impossible,  manner,)  and 
are  thus  brought  down  to  the  fii'st  day  of  the  eleventh 
month,  the  very  day  on  which  Moses  is  stated  to  have 
addressed  the  people  on  the  plains  of  Moab.     D.  i.  3. 

And  now  what  room  is  there  for  the  other  events, 
which  are  recorded  in  the  book  of  Numbers,  as  having 
occurred  between  the  conquest  of  Bashan  and  the  ad- 
dress of  Moses  ?    The  chief  of  these  were — 


212  THE   WAR   ON   MIDIAN. 

(1)  The  march  forward  to  the  plains  of  Moab, 
K  xxii.  1  ; 

(2)  Balak's  sending  twice  to  Balaam,  his  journey, 
and  prophesjings,  xxii.  2-xxiv  ; 

(3)  Israel's  'abiding'  in  Shittim,  and  committing 
whoredom  with  the  daughters  of  Moab,  xxv.  1-3  ; 

(4)  The  death  of  24,000  bj  the  plague,  xxv.  9  ; 

(5)  The  second  numbering  of  the  people,  xxvi ; 

(6)  The  war  upon  Midian,  above  considered,  during 
which  they  '  burnt  all  their  cities,  and  all  their  goodly 
castles,'  &c.,  and  surely  must  have  rec[uired  a  month  or 
six  weeks  for  such  a  transaction. 

175.  Another  obvious  inference  from  the  above  facts 
is  that  such  a  narrative  as  that  of  the  Exodus  could 
never, — in  its  present  form,  and  as  a  whole,  at  all 
events, — have  been  written  by  Moses,  or  by  any  one 
who  had  actually  taken  part  in  the  scenes  which  it 
professes  to  describe.  As  IIaveenick  observes,  Pent. 
j>.  90:— 

If  the  Pentateuch  ^vould  fully  maintain  its  right  to  the  position  which  it 
claims,  as  the  work  of  Moses  and  the  commencement  of  the  sacred  records 
of  the  covenant-people,  it  must  fulfil  the  requisition  of  showing  itself  to  be 
a  work  historically  true, — containing  a  history  which  shall  Tindicate  itself 
by  critical  examination,  as  maintaining  invariably  the  character  of  perfect 
truth,  in  reference  to  the  assumed  period  of  its  comjiosition. 

And  so  says  IIengstenbekg,  Pent.  ii.  283  : — 

It  is  the  unavoidable  fate  of  a  spurious  historical  work  of  any  length,  to 
be  involved  in  contradictions.  This  must  be  the  case  to  a  very  great  ex- 
tent with  the  Pentateuch,  if  it  be  not  genuine If  the  Pentateuch 

is  spurious,  its  histories  and  laws  have  been  fabricated  in  successive  por- 
tions, and  were  committed  to  writing  in  the  course  of  centuries  by  different 
individuals.  From  such  a  mode  of  origination  a  mass  of  contradictions  is 
inseparable,  and  the  improving  hand  of  a  later  editor  would  never  be  ca- 


THE    WAK    ON    MIDI  AN.  213 

pable  of  entirely  obliterating  them.  From  these  remarks  it  appears  that 
freedom  from  contradictious  is  much  more  than  the  conditio  sine  qua  non 

of  the  genuineness  of  the  Pentateuch It  may  be  thought  that 

Moses,  in  the  history  of  ancient  times,  found  contradictions,  and  repeated 
the  tradition  without  removing  them.  Where,  however,  Moses  narrates 
what  he  himself  spoke,  did,  or  saw,  there  every  real  contradiction  becomes 
a  witness  against  the  genuineness. 


CHAPTER   XXm. 


CONCLUDING     EEMAKKS. 


176.  "We  shall  next  proceed,  in  the  Second  Part  of 
this  work,  to  consider  the  signs,  which  these  books  of 
the  Pentateuch  give,  upon  close  inspection,  of  the  man- 
ner, and  of  the  age  or  ages,  in  which  thej  have  been 
composed. 

But,  meanwhile,  I  cannot  bnt  feel  that,  having  thus 
been  impelled  to  take  an  active  part  in  showing  the 
groundlessness  of  that  notion  of  Scripture  Inspiration, 
which  so  many  have  long  regarded  as  the  very  founda- 
tion of  their  faith  and  hope,  a  demand  may  be  made 
upon  me  for  something  to  supply  the  loss,  for  something 
to  fill  up  the  aching  void,  which  will  undoubtedly  be 
felt  at  first,  where  that  faith,  which  has  been  built  only 
or  mainly  upon  the  basis  of  the  historical  truth  of  the 
Pentateuch,  must  be  in  danger  of  collapsing,  together 
with  its  support.  In  the  present  stage  of  the  discussion, 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  answer  fully,  as  I  would,  to 
such  a  demand,  though  I  trust  to  be  enabled  to  do  so 
before  my  vrork  is  brought  to  its  close. 

177.  I  would,  however,  venture  to  refer  the  reader, 
for  some  words,  which,  I  would  humbly  hope,  by  God's 


CONCLUDING   KEMAKKS.  215 

Mercy,  may  minister  in  some  measure  to  the  comfort 
and  support  of  troubled  minds,  under  present  circum- 
stances, to  my  lately-publislied  CommentaTy  on  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans.  That  Commentary,  it  is  true, 
\\\Q\\^  j^iiblished  after  I  had  formed  my  opinion  of  the 
real  nature  of  the  Mosaic  story,  was  written  long  be- 
fore, and  the  greatest  part  of  it  printed,  at  a  time  when 
I  had  no  idea  of  ever  holding  my  present  views.  I  be- 
lieve that  I  have  rightly  explained  in  it  the  Apostle's 
own  meaning,  and  have  expressed  truly,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  the  manner  in  which  he  himself  would  have  adapt- 
ed his  teaching  to  the  circumstances,  social  and  intel- 
lectual, of  the  present  day.  The  main  essence  of  that 
teaching  is  that  our  righteousness  is  wholly  of  '  faith,' 
a  living  trust  in  God's  Love, — that  we  must  all,  and  we 
may  all,  depend  entirely  on  our  Father's  Mercy,  and 
come  as  children  to  His  Footstool,  continually,  for  light 
and  life,  for  help  and  blessing,  for  counsel  and  guidance, 
and,  if  need  be,  for  that  'loving  correction,'  which 
'  shall  make  us  great.'  That  essential  principle  of  St. 
Paul's  teaching  remains  still  an  eternal  Truth  for  our 
strength  and  consolation,  whatever  may  be  the  effect 
of  the  view,  taken  of  the  Mosaic  history,  upon  other 
parts  of  the  current  belief  of  Christendom.  Under  any 
circumstances,  should  I  have  occasion  to  reprint  that 
book,  I  should  only  have  to  modify  in  some  places  the 
form  of  the  expression.  The  main  substance  of  the 
book, — those  parts  which  explain  the  Apostle's  teach- 
ing, and  set  forth  the  great  principles,  Avliich  that  teach- 
ing involves,  of  a  calm  confiding  trust  in  God's  Fatherly 
Love,  an  abiding  sense  of  liis  Presence,  a  childlike  de- 
sire and  endeavour,  b}--  His  own  Good  Spirit's  help,  to 
do  His  "Will  and  grow  in  His  Likeness, — would  need  no 


216  CONCLUDING   EEMAKKS.  ''  - 

change.  And  I  entertain  the  hope  that  views,  such  as 
those  stated  in  that  book, — whicli  during  the  last  twenty 
years  have  been  freely  and  fully  taught  by  master- 
minds,* within  the  pale  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
have  taken  strong  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  many, — as 
they  have  enabled  my  own  spirit  to  bear  with  more 
calmness,  and  stedfastness  of  faith  in  the  Living  God, 
the  shock  which  I  experienced  at  first,  on  perceiving 
the  unhistorical  character  of  the  Mosaic  narrative, — 
may  be  of  like  use  to  others,  and  prepare  their  minds 
for  yet  wider  and  grander  views  of  God's  dealings  with 
Man,  and  with  the  Universe,  than  we  have  yet  attained 
to. 

178.  And  it  may  be  that  the  time  is  near  at  hand, 
in  the  ordering  of  God's  Providence,  when  the  way 
shall  be  opened  for  a  wide  extension  of  Missionary 
work  among  the  heathen, — when  that  work,  which  now 
languishes,  which  cannot  make  progress  among  them, 
either  among  the  ignorant  Zulu  or  the  learned  Hindoo, 
shall  no  longer  be  impeded  by  the  necessity  of  our  lay- 
ing down,  at  the  very  outset,  stories  like  these  for  their 
reception,  whicli  they  can  often  match  out  of  their  own 
traditions,  and  requiring  them,  upon  pain  of  eternal 
misery,  to  '  believe  '  in  them  all  '  unfeignedly,' — and 
when  a  Missionary  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  England 
shall  not  be  prevented,  as  I  myself  have  been,  from  ad- 
mitting to  the  Diaconate  a  thoroughly  competent,  well- 
trained,  able  and  pious,  native,  who  had  himself  helped 
to  translate  the  whole  of  the  Kew  Testament  and  sev- 

*  I  think  it  right  to  say  that,  in  making  and  publishing  such  investiga- 
tions, as  those  which  are  contained  in  this  book,  I  am  neither  guided  by 
the  example  of  my  friend,  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice,  nor  acting  with  his  ad- 
vice or  approval. 


CONCLUDING   EEMAKKS.  21 T 

eral  books  of  the  Old,  because  he  must  be  ordained  by 
the  forxuularies  of  tlie  Church  of  England,  and  those 
require  that  he  should  not  only  subscribe  to  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles,  and  acknowledge  the  book  of  Common 
Prayer, — jDarts  of  which,  the  nice  distinctions  of  the 
Athanasian  Creed  for  instance,  cannot  possibly  be  trans- 
lated into  his  language, — but  solemnly  declare  in  the 
presence  of  God  and  the  Congregation,  that  he  '  un- 
feignedly  believes  in  all  the  Canonical  Scriptures,'  some 
parts  of  which,  as  the  genealogies  in  Chronicles,  and  the 
books  of  Esther  and  Daniel,  as  well  as  large  portions  of 
the  prophecies,  he  had  never  read. 

179.  I  cannot  say  that  I  felt  a  religious  scruple  my- 
self about  ordaining  a  native  candidate  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, without  requiring  him  to  enter  on  his  min- 
isterial course  by  uttering  a  falsehood,  though  aware 
that,  by  the  thirty-sixth  Canon,  I  should,  for  ordaining 
him  without  such  a  precaution,  have  rendered  myself 
liable  to  suspension.  But  others  about  me  had  scruples 
of  this  kind,  and  I  deemed  it  best,  under  the  circum- 
stances, to  defer  to  their  judgment,  until  I  could  lay 
the  matter  before  the  Church  at  home.  I  do  now  lay 
it  before  the  Church,  though  in  a  much  wider  form  than 
I  at  first  contemplated.  And  I  trust  that,  as  Ministers 
of  God's  Truth  and  God's  Message  of  Love  to  mankind, 
we  shall  be  able  before  long  to  meet  the  Mahomedan 
and  Brahmin  and  Buddhist,  as  well  as  the  untutored 
savage  of  South  Africa  and  the  South  Pacific,  on  other 
and  better  terms  than  we  now  do, — being  no  longer 
obliged  to  maintain  every  part  of  the  Bible  as  an  infal- 
lible record  of  past  history,  and  every  word  as  the 
sacred  utterance  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

180,  This,  however,  it  must  be  confessed,  is   the 

10 


218  CONCLUDING   Ki-MAKKS. 

practice,  in  the  present  day,  of  most  Protestant  Mis- 
sionaries, wlietlier  "svitliiu  or  withont  the  Church  of 
England  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  been  told 
distinctly,  by  one  of  themselves,  that  some  foreign  Mis- 
sionaries do  not  think  it  expedient  to  put  the  Old  Testa- 
ment into  the  hands  of  natives  at  all.  There  are  others, 
doubtless,  in  the  Christian  Ministry,  who  have  attained 
to  wider  views  of  Scripture  Inspiration,  and  who  do  not 
suppose  that  those  narratives  are  historically  true,  and 
yet  '  believe  unfeignedly  '  in  the  Divine  Authority  of 
the  Scriptures,  relying  on  the  records  as  an  efficient  in- 
strument of  communication  from  God  to  Man,  in  all 
that  is  '  necessary  to  salvation.'  And  the  number  of 
such  believers,  both  among  the  Clergy  and  Laity,  is 
probably  increasing  daily. 

181.  Meanwhile,  in  order  that  Vv^e  may  give  due 
honour  to  the  Bible,  as  containing  a  message  from  God 
to  our  souls,  it  is  surely  necessary  that  we  take  our- 
selves, in  the  first  place,  and  teach  others  to  take,  a 
right  and  true  view,  both  of  the  contents  of  the  Book, 
and  of  the  nature  of  its  Inspiration.  Then,  instead  of 
lookino;  to  it  for  revelations  of  scientific  or  historical 
facts,  which  God  has  never  promised  to  disclose  in  this 
way,  by  sudden  supernatural  communications,  without 
the  use  of  human  powers  of  intellect,  and  without  due 
labour  spent  in  the  search  after  truth,  we  shall  have  re- 
course to  it  for  that  Avhich  God  has  there  in  His  Provi- 
dence laid  up  in  store  for  our  use, — food  for  the  innci- 
man,  supplies  of  spiritual  strength  and  consolation, 
living  words  of  power  to  speak  to  our  hearts  and  con- 
sciences, and  Avake  us  up  to  daily  earnestness  of  faith 
and  duty.  That  very  Book  of  Truth  will  then  cheer  us 
with  the  assurance  of  Divine  help  and  blessing,  while 


CONCLUDING   KEMAKKS.  219 

Tve  engage  ourselves  devoutly  and  faithfully  in  sucli  a 
work  as  that  which  now  lies  before  us,  and  diligently 
exercise  the  best  faculties  of  mind,  which  God  has  given 
us,  in  searching  into  the  true  origin  and  meaning  of  the 
Bible  narrative,  and  its  relation  to  other  facts  of  science 
or  history. 

182.  And  this  may  be  the  step,  which  God  in  Ilis 
Providence  calls  us  to  take  in  the  present  age,  in  ad- 
vance of  the  past  generation,  with  reference  to  the  sub- 
ject now  before  us.  In  the  time  of  Galileo,  it  was 
heresy  to  say  that  the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  earth 
went  round  it.  In  far  later  times,  the  days  of  the 
childhood  of  many  now  living,  it  was  thought  by  many 
heresy  to  say  that  the  fossil  bones,  dug  up  within  the 
earth,  were  not  the  signs  of  Noah's  Flood,  or  to  main- 
tain that  death  was  in  the  world,  and  pain,  and  multi- 
plied destruction  of  living  creatures  by  fire  and  flood, 
millions  of  years  before  the  first  man  had  sinned.  Yet 
all  these  are  now  recognised  as  facts,  which  cannot  be 
disputed,  which  our  very  children  should  be  taught  to 
know.  And  good  men  will  even  set  themselves  down 
to  wrest  the  plain  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves into  a  forced  conformity  with  these  admitted 
results  of  modern  science. 

183.  But,  in  this  our  day,  by  the  Gracious  Favour 
of  the  '  Father  of  Lights,  the  Giver  of  every  good  and 
perfect  gift,'  other  sciences,  besides  geology,  have 
sprung  into  sudden  growth,  and  have  attained  already 
a  wonderful  developement.  The  results  of  scientific 
criticism,  applied  to  the  examination  of  the  letter  of 
the  Scriptures,  will  also  soon  be  acknowledged  as,  facts, 
which  must  be  laid  as  the  basis  of  all  sound  religious 
teaching.     In  view  of  this  change,  which,  I  believe,  is 


220  CONCLUDING   KEMARKS. 

near  at  hand,  and  in  order  to  avert  the  shock,  which 
our  children's  faith  must  otherwise  experience,  when 
they  find,  as  they  certainly  will  before  long,  that  the 
Bible  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  infallibly  true  in 
matters  of  common  history, — as  we  value  their  rever- 
ence and  love  for  the  Sacred  Book, — let  us  teach  them 
at  once  to  know  that  they  are  not  to  look  for  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  Holy  One,  which  breathes  through  its 
pages,  in  respect  of  any  such  matters  as  these,  which 
the  writers  wrote  as  men,  with  the  same  liability  to 
error  from  any  cause  as  other  men,  and  where  they 
must  be  judged  as  men,  as  all  other  writers  would  be, 
by  the  just  laws  of  criticism. 

184.  Let  us  rather  teach  them  to  look  for  the  sign 
of  God's  Spirit,  siDcaking  to  them  in  the  Bible,  in  that 
of  which  their  own  hearts  alone  can  be  the  judges,  of 
which  the  heart  of  the  simple  child  can  judge  as  well 
as — often,  alas  !  better  than — that  of  the  self-willed 
philosopher,  critic,  or  sage, — in  that  which  speaks  to 
the  witness  for  God  within  them,  to  which  alone,  under 
God  Himself,  whose  voice  it  utters  in  the  secrets  of  his 
inner  being,  each  man  is  ultimately  responsible, — to 
the  Reason  and  Conscience.  Let  us  bid  them  look  for 
it  in  that  within  the  Bible,  which  tells  them  of  what  is 
pure  and  good,  holy  and  loving,  faithful  and  true, 
which  speaks  from  God's  Spirit  directly  to  their  spirits, 
though  clothed  with  the  outward  form  of  a  law,  or 
parable,  or  proverb,  or  narrative, — in  that  which  they 
will  feel  and  know  in  themselves  to  be  righteous  and 
excellent,  however  they  may  perversely  choose  the 
base  and  evil, — in  that,  which  makes  the  living  man 
leap  up,  as  it  were,  in  the  strength  of  sure  conviction, 
which  no  arguments  could  bring,  no  dogmas  of  Church 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS.  221 

or  Council  enforce,  saying,  as  the  Scripture  words  are 
uttered,  which  answer  to  the  Voice  of  Truth  within, 
'These  words  are  God's, — not  tlie  flesh,  the  outward 
matter,  the  mere  letter,  but  the  inward  core  and  mean- 
ing of  them, — for  they  are  spirit,  they  are  life.'  As 
Dean  Milman  has  observed,  Lathi  Christianity^  vi.  jp. 
633,— 

What  distinctness  of  conception,  what  precision  of  language  may  be  in- 
dispensable to  true  faith, — what  part  of  the  ancient  dogmatic  system  may 
be  allowed  silently  to  fall  into  disuse,  as  at  least  superfluous,  and  as  beyond 
the  proper  range  of  human  thought  and  human  language, — how  far  the 
sacred  records  may,  without  real  peril  to  their  truth,  be  subjected  to  closer 
investigation, — to  what  wider  interpretation,  especially  of  the  Semitic  por- 
tion, those  records  may  submit,  and  wisely  submit,  in  order  to  harmonise 
them  with  the  irrefutable  conclusions  of  science, — how  far  the  Eastern  veil 
of  allegory  which  hangs  over  their  truth  may  be  lifted  or  torn  away,  to 
show  their  unshadowed  essence, — how  far  the  poetic  vehicle,  through  which 
truth  is  conveyed,  may  be  gently  severed  from  the  truth, — all  this  must  be 
left  to  the  future  historian  of  our  religion.  As  it  is  my  own  confident  be- 
lief that  the  words  of  Christ,  and  His  words  alone,  (the  primal,  indefeasible 
truths  of  Christianity,)  shall  not  pass  away,  so  I  cannot  presume  to  say  that 
men  may  not  attain  to  a  clearer,  at  the  same  time  more  full  and  compre- 
hensive and  balanced  sense  of  those  words,  than  has  as  yet  been  generally 
received  in  the  Christian  world.  As  all  else  is  transient  and  mutable,  these 
only  eternal  and  universal,  assuredly,  whatever  light  may  be  thrown  on  the 
mental  constitution  of  man,  even  on  the  constitution  of  nature,  and  the 
laws  which  govern  the  world,  will  be  concentrated  so  as  to  give  a  more 
penetrating  vision  of  those  undying  truths. 

185.  Thus,  for  instance,  we  may  lead  them  to  recog- 
nise the  fact,  that  the  third  and  sixth  chapters  of  Exo- 
dus, which  declare  to  us  the  I^ame  of  God, — '  I  AM,' 
Jehovah,  the  Living  God, — the  Name  of  Him,  'in 
"Whom  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,'  upon 
Whom  the  whole  universe  depends, — whctlier  written 
by  Moses  or  by  some  other  fellow-man,  were  yet  w^ritten 
by  one,  who  was  specially  inspired,  first  to  conceive 
himself  this  transcendent,  divine,  thought,  and  then  to 


222  CONCLUDINa  kemarks. 

express  and  tell  it  forth  to  others.  To  Iiim  first,  in  the 
secrets  of  his  own  inner  being,  was  the  revelation  made 
of  the  nature  and  character  of  the  Supreme,  Self-exist- 
ent, Being ;  and  then  he  was  moved  by  the  self-same 
Spirit,  and  empowered  with  strength  from  above,  to 
declare  that  I^ame,  as  an  object  of  faith,  to  ns.  It 
matters  not  that  the  writer  may  have  exhibited  the 
living  Truth  in  the  clothing  of  human  imagery,  and  em- 
bodied the  divine  lesson,  which  his  own  mind  had  re- 
ceived, and  which  he  felt  himself  commissioned  to 
impart  to  his  fellow-men,  in  the  story  of  the  flaming 
bush  and  the  audible  voice.  This  circumstance  would 
not  at  all  affect  the  nature  of  the  Truth  itself,  which 
remains  still  eternally  true,  whatever  be  the  form  in 
which  it  is  announced  to  us, — ^just  as  the  truths,  which 
our  Lord  Himself  teaches,  are  not  the  less  true,  because 
clothed  in  the  imagery  of  a  parable,  or  of  a  narrative, 
(like  that  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  or  of  the  good  Samari- 
tan,) which  we  do  not  suppose  to  be  historically  true. 
Such  truths,  however  declared,  wdien  once  perceived 
by  the  spirit's  eyes,  are  recognised  at  once  as  truths,  as 
eternal  realities ;  and,  being  recognised,  it  would  be 
sinful  not  to  believe  and  embrace  them,  as  truths,  which 
God  Himself,  in  His  Providential  dealings  with  man, 
has  been  pleased  to  reveal  to  us,  even  through  this  im- 
perfect agency. 

186.  But  then,  too,  they  must  be  taught  to  recog- 
nise the  voice  of  God's  Spirit,  in  whatever  way,  by 
whatever  ministry,  He  vouchsafes  to  speak  to  the  chil- 
dren of  men  ;  aud  to  realise  the  solid  comfort  of  the 
thought,  that, — not  in  the  Bible  only,  but  also  out  of 
the  Bible, — not  to  us  Christians  only,  but  to  our  fellow- 
men  of  all  climes  and  countries,  ages  and  religions, — 


CONCLUDING   EEMAEKS.  523 

the  same  Gracious  Teacher  is  revealing,  in  different 
measures,  according  to  His  own  good  pleasure,  the  hid- 
den things  of  God. 

As  Prof.  A.  J.  Scott  observes,  Three  Discourses 
&c.,2>-  97, — 

What  occurred  in  the  case  of  Job,  peculiar,  probably,  in  degree,  was 
surely  not  in  kind  unexampled.  The  ancient  Indian,  who  wrote  that  '  God 
is  the  gift  of  charity,  God  is  the  offering,  God  is  the  fire  of  the  altar,  by 
God  the  sacrifice  is  performed,  and  God  is  to  be  obtained  by  him,  who 
makes  God  alone  the  object  of  his  work,'  was  one  who  had  experienced 
somewhat  of  what  Job  had  experienced,  or  learned  from  one  who  had. 

187.  I  quote,  in  proof  of  this,  these  noble  words  of 
CiCEEO,  preserved  by  Lactantius,  Div.  Inst.  vi.  8 : — 

Law,  properly  understood,  is  no  other  than  right  reason,  agreeing  with 
nature,  spread  abroad  among  all  men,  ever  consistent  with  itself,  eternal, 
whose  office  is  to  summon  to  duty  by  its  commands,  to  deter  from  vice  by 
its  prohibitions, — which,  however,  to  the  good  never  commands  or  forbids 
in  vain,  never  influences  the  wicked  either  by  commanding  or  forbidding. 
In  contradiction  to  this  Law,  nothing  can  be  laid  down,  nor  does  it  admit 
of  partial  or  entire  repeal.  Nor  can  we  be  released  from  this  Law  either 
by  vote  of  the  senate  or  decree  of  the  people.  Nor  does  it  require  any 
commentator  or  interpreter  besides  itself.  Nor  will  there  be  one  Law  at 
Athens,  and  another  at  Rome,  one  now,  and  another  hereafter :  but  one 
eternal,  immutable,  Law  will  both  embrace  all  nations  and  at  all  times. 
And  there  will  be  one  common  Master,  as  it  were,  and  Ruler  of  all,  namely, 
God,  the  Great  Originator,  Expositor,  Enactor,  of  this  Law ;  which  Law 
whoever  will  not  obey,  will  be  flying  from  himself,  and,  having  treated 
with  contempt  his  human  nature,  will  in  that  very  fact  pay  the  greatest 
penalty,  even  if  he  shall  have  escaped  other  punishments,  as  they  are  com- 
monly considered. 

Well  might  the  Christian  philosopher  observe  that 
the  heathen  has  here  '  depicted  that  holy,  heavenly, 
Law  with  a  voice  almost  divine,'  and  that  he  regards 
such  persons,  'speaking  thus  the  truth  without  design,' 
as  '  divining  by  some  kind  of  Inspiration.' 

188.  And   the   same  divine  Teacher,   we   cannot 


224  CONCLUDING   EEMAKKS. 

doubt,  revealed  also  to  tlie  Sikh  Gooroos  snch  great 
truths  as  these :  (Cunningham's  History  of  the  /SiJchs, 
p.  355,  356.) 

The  True  Name  is  God,  without  fear,  without  enmity,  the  Being  with- 
out Death,  the  Giver  of  Salvation. 

Remember  the  primal  Truth,  Truth  which  was  before  the  world  began, 
Truth  which  is,  and  Truth,  0  Nauuk,  which  will  remain. 

How  can  Truth  be  told  ?     How  can  falsehood  be  unravelled  ? 

0  Nanuk  !  by  following  the  Will  of  God,  as  by  Him  ordained. 

One  Self-existent,  Himself  the  Creator,  0  Nanuk,  One  continueth, 
another  never  was,  and  never  will  be. 

Thou  art  in  each  thing,  and  in  all  places ;  0  God  !  Thou  art  the  One 
Existent  Being. 

My  mind  dwells  upon  One,  Him  who  gave  the  soul  and  the  body. 

Numerous  Mahomets  have  there  been,  and  multitudes  of  Brahmas, 
Vishnus,  and  Sivas, 

Thousands  of  Peers  and  Prophets,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  Saints  and 
Holy  men ; 

But  the  Chief  of  Lords  is  the  One  Lord,  the  true  Name  of  God. 

0  Nanuk  !  of  God,  His  qualities,  without  end,  beyond  reckoning,  who 
can  understand  ? 

189.  I  quote  also,  in  conclusion,  the  folloM'iiig  words, 
which  were  written  by  one  who  had  no  Pentateuch  or 
Bible  to  teach  him,  but  who  surely  learned  such  living 
truths  as  these  by  the  secret  teaching  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  {Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal^  \\.  ]). 
484-487,  750-756,  quoted  in  H.  H.  Wilson's  Works?) 

Whatever  Ram  willeth,  that  without  the  least  difficulty  shall  be  :  why, 
therefore,  do  ye  kill  yourselves  with  grief,  when  grief  can  avail  you 
nothing  ? 

Whatsoever  hath  been  made,  God  made.  Whatsoever  is  to  be  made, 
God  will  make.  Whatsoever  is,  God  maketh.  Then  why  do  any  of  you 
afflict  yourselves  ? 

Thou,  0  God,  art  the  Author  of  all  things  which  have  been  made,  and 
from  Thee  will  originate  all  things  which  are  to  be  made.  Thou  art  the 
Maker  and  the  Cause  of  all  things  made.     There  is  none  other  but  Thee. 

He  is  my  God,  who  maketh  all  things  perfect.  Meditate  upon  Him,  in 
whose  hinds  are  life  and  death. 


CONCLUDING   KEMAKK8.  225 

He  is  my  God,  who  created  heaven,  earth,  hell,  and  the  intermediate 
space,  who  is  the  beginning  and  end  of  all  creation,  and  who  provideth  for 
all. 

I  believe  that  God  made  man,  and  that  He  maketh  every  thing.  He  is 
my  Friend. 

Let  faith  in  God  characterise  all  your  thoughts,  words,  and  actions.  He, 
who  serveth  God,  places  confidence  in  nothing  else. 

If  the  remembrance  of  God  be  in  your  hearts,  ye  will  be  able  to  accom- 
plish things  which  are  impracticable.  But  those  who  seek  the  paths  of  God 
are  few ! 

0  foolish  one  !  God  is  not  far  from  you :  He  is  near  you.  You  are 
ignorant ;  but  he  knoweth  every  thing,  and  is  careful  in  bestowing. 

Care  can  avail  nothing  ;  it  devoureth  life  :  for  those  things  shall  hap- 
pen, which  God  shall  direct. 

Remember  God,  for  He  endued  your  body  with  life :  remember  that 
Beloved  One,  who  placed  you  in  the  womb,  reared  and  nourished  you. 

Preserve  God  in  your  hearts,  and  put  faith  in  your  minds,  so  that  by 
God's  power  your  expectations  may  be  realized. 

In  order  that  He  may  diffuse  happiness,  God  becometh  subservient  to 
all ;  and,  although  the  knowledge  of  this  is  in  the  hearts  of  the  foolish, 
yet  will  they  not  praise  His  Name. 

0  God,  Thou  art,  as  it  were,  exceeding  riches ;  Thy  regulations  are 
without  compare  ;  Thou  art  the  chief  of  every  world,  yet  remainest  in- 
visible. 

Take  such  food  and  raiment,  as  it  may  please  God  to  provide  you 
with  :  you  require  naught  besides. 

He,  that  partaketh  of  but  one  grain  of  the  Love  of  God,  shall  be  re- 
leased from  the  sinfulness  of  all  his  doubts  and  actions. 

1  take  for  my  spiritual  food  the  water  and  the  leaf  of  Ram.  In  the 
world  I  care  not;  but  God's  Love  is  unfathomable. 

What  hope  can  those  have  elsewhere,  even  if  they  wandered  over  the 
whole  earth,  who  abandon  God  ? 

It  will  be  impossible  for  you  to  profit  anything,  if  you  are  not  with  God, 
even  if  you  were  to  wander  from  country  to  country. 

Have  no  desires,  but  accept  what  circumstances  may  bring  before  you  ; 
because,  whatever  God  pleaseth  to  direct  can  never  be  wrong. 

All  things  are  exceeding  sweet  to  those  who  love  God  ;  they  would 
never  style  them  bitter,  even  if  filled  with  poison ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
would  accept  them  as  if  they  were  ambrosia. 

Adversity  is  good,  if  on  account  of  God  ;  but  it  is  useless  to  pain  the 
body.     Without  God,  the  comforts  of  wealth  arc  unprofitable. 
10* 


226  CONCLUDING   KEMAKKS. 

Whatever  is  to  be,  will  be ;  therefore  long  not  for  grief,  nor  for  joy ; 
because  by  seeking  the  one,  you  may  find  the  other.  Forget  not  to  praise 
God. 

Do  unto  me,  0  God,  as  Thou  thinkest  best :  I  am  obedient  to  Thee. 
My  disciples !  behold  no  other  God  ;  go  nowhere  but  to  Him. 

Condemn  none  of  those  things,  which  the  Creator  hath  made.  Those 
are  His  holy  servants,  who  are  satisfied  with  them. 

We  are  not  creators :  the  Creator  is  a  distmct  being :  He  can  make 
whatever  He  desireth,  but  we  can  make  nothing. 

God  is  my  clothing  and  my  dwelling :  He  is  my  ruler,  my  body,  and 
my  soul. 

God  ever  fostereth  His  creatures,  even  as  a  mother  serves  her  ofispring, 
and  keepeth  it  from  harm. 

0  God,  Thou  who  art  the  Truth,  grant  me  contentment,  love,  devotion, 
and  faith.  Thy  servant  prayeth  for  true  patience,  and  that  he  may  be  de- 
voted to  Thee. 

He,  that  formed  the  mind,  made  it  as  it  were  a  temple  for  Himself  to 
dwell  in ;  for  God  liveth  in  the  mind,  and  none  other  but  God. 

0  my  friend,  recognise  that  Being,  with  whom  thou  art  so  intimately 
connected :  think  not  that  God  is  distant,  but  believe  that,  like  thy  own 
shadow,  He  is  ever  near  thee. 

Receive  that  which  is  perfect  into  your  hearts,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
besides  ;  abandon  all  things  for  the  love  of  God,  for  this  Dadu  declares  is 
the  true  devotion. 

All  have  it  in  their  power  to  take  away  their  own  lives,  but  they  can- 
not release  their  souls  from  punishment ;  for  God  alone  is  able  to  pardon 
the  soul,  though  few  deserve  His  mercy. 

If  you  call  upon  God  you  will  be  able  to  subdue  your  imperfections, 
and  the  evil  inclinations  of  your  mind  will  depart  from  you  ;  but  they  will 
return  to  you  agam,  when  you  cease  to  call  upon  Him. 


ADDITION  TO  PAGE   15. 

Ans.  Since  Jacob  lived  17  years  in  Eg-ypt,  G.  xlvii.  28,  Judah  was  59 
years  old,  according  to  the  story  (20),  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death. 
Hence,  if  he  was  only  20  years  old  (20,  i.)  at  his  first  marriage,  he  must 
have  been  about  24  at  the  birth  of  his  third  son,  and  39,  at  least,  if  we 
suppose  that  son  to  have  arrived  at  maturity  at  the  early  age  of  15.  Thus 
only  20  years  of  Judah's  life  would  remain,  even  on  this  supposition  (which, 
however,  the  texts  quoted  in  (19)  will  not  allow),  for  Judah  to  marry  again, 
and  to  have  two  grandsons  born  to  him  by  this  second  marriage. 

It  has  been  suggested  also  that  '  the  substantive  verb,  which  in  such 
sentences  is  7iever  introduced  but  with  emphasis,  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
clause  (1'^n'^'^) — '  and  the  sons  of  Pharez  were  Hezron  and  Hamul ' — this 
being  the  only  instance  in  the  enumeration,  where  it  is  so  employed.'  It 
is  thought  that  '  this  surely  marks  a  distinction,'  and  implies  that  '  the 
sacred  historian  deliberately  intended  to  except  these  two  names  from  the 
remainder  of  his  list.' 

Ans.  (i)  Whoever  will  accept  the  above  explanation  must  explain,  as 
before,  why  these  two  grandsons  of  Judah  are  included,  together  v.ith  the 
two  grandsons  of  Asher,  v.  17,  among  those  who  '  went  down  with  Jacob 
into  Egypt,'  whereas  no  other  of  the  great-grandsons  of  Jacob  are  men- 
tioned in  the  list.  This  surely  indicates  that  these  four,  and  these  only, 
were  supposed  to  have  been  born  before  the  descent  into  Egypt. 

(ii)  The  same  substantive  verb,  1''il*5 ,  occurs  in  exactly  the  same  way, 
'  standing  at  the  head  of  the  clause,'  but  without  any  particular  '  emphasis,' 
in  N.  iii.  17,  'and  these  were  the  sons  of  Levi  by  their  names,  Gershon, 
and  Kohath,  and  Merari.' 

(iii)  Possibly,  the  introduction  of  the  substantive  verb  in  the  case  before 
us  may  have  arisen  from  the  interruption  in  the  narrative,  caused  by  the 
parenthesis,  '  but  Er  and  Onan  died  in  the  land  of  Canaan.' 


INDEX    OF    TEXTS, 


GENESIS. 

PAGE 

sii.     4 151 

XV.    7 153 

sv.  18-16 153 

XV.  16 103,  155 

xvn.  12,13 175 

XVII.  17 152 

XXI.    5 151 

XXV.  26 151 

xxvr.  15-21 153 

XXIX.  35 61 

XXX.  24-26 61 

XXXI.  41 61 

XXXII 176 

xxxiii 176 

xxsiv 153 

XXXVII.    2 68,71 

xxxviii 62 

XXXVIII.    2 164 

xLi.  45 164 

XLi.  46 61 

XLii.  37 70 

XLiii.    2 70 

siiii.    8 70 

XLiii.  29 70 

XLiv.  20 68 

XLiv.  30,81,33 70 

XLv.    6 70 

XLVi 61,62,6.5, 

68.  69.142,163.  166, 
167,  178,  ISO,  181 

XLVl.    4 73 

XLvi.    5 68,71 

XLVI.    7 68 

XLVI.     8 61,73 

XLVL     9   70 

XLVL   10 164 

XLVL   11 150 

XLVL  12 60,71,164 

XLVL  15 67,73,142 

XLVL  1T,..67,  68,69, 142 
XLVI.  18 73 


PAGE 

XLVL  20 68 

XLVL  21 68,1-^2 

XLVL  23 67,168 

XLVL  26.. 61,  67,  71,  164 

XLVL  27 61,67,71 

XLvii.    9 151 

XLviii.     5,  6 75 

XLix.    8 145 

XLix.     4 145 

L.  22 156 

L.  23... .156,  157,  158 


EXODUS. 


1 61 

I.    5 61,73 

L     7 73,166,180 

J.  11 108 

I.  19 165,167 

n.    4 197 

IL    5 108 

iiL  20-22 108 

iiL  22 107 

V.     3 96,147 

VL       ...142,  166,  167 
168,  180, 181 

VL  14-25 165 

VL  16-20 103,  150 

VL  16 155 

VL  17-19 169 

VL  17 ITO 

VL  18 155,178 

VI.  20-22 169 

VL  20 155 

VL  21,22 165,  170  i 

VL  24 165 

VI   25 165 

vn.     7 150 

IX.  26 109 

X.  24-26 147 

X.  26 115 

XL    4 106 


PAGE 

xn.    3,6 105 

xiL    3,4 110,197 

xn.    5 no 

xn.    6 76,195 

xn.    7 96,201 

xn.  12,14 105 

xn.  21-28 105 

xn.  22.. ..112,  144,201 

xn.  23-27 201 

xn.  29 112,144 

xn.  30 144 

xn.  31-41 115 

xn.  34 94 

xn.  35 108 

xn.  36 69.  108,  112 

xn.  37.. 83, 95,  108,  113 

XIL  38 83,  108,  113 

xn.  40 149,152 

XIL  41,42 100 

xn.  51 '.00,115 

xin.    2 145,147 

XIII.     8 106 

xni,  12, 13 145 

xiiL  18 98,103 

XIII.  20 95 

XIV.  2 115,117 

XIV.    8 100 

XIV.  10 99 

XIV.  12 102 

XV.  22 117 

XVL    2,3 77 

XVL  16 94 

XVL  35 118 

xvn.    8-13 101 

xvn     8-16 158 

XVII.     9,10 1.58 

XVIII.     8 165 

xvin.     4 165 

xvin.  21 92 

XIX.     6,22 202 

XX.  19 202 

XXL    4,20,21 50 

xxiu.  17 198 


INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


229 


PAGE 

xxni.  27-30 133 

XXIV.  13 15S 

xxvii.     1 1S7 

xxvii    IS '9 

XXX.  11-13 89 

XXXII.  23 173 

XXXIV.    3 119 

XXXIV.  20 145 

XXXVI.  20-30 127 

xxsviii 91 

xxxviii.  24,25 89,  91 

xxxvin.  2(i..S9,  90,  91,  174 
xxxviii.  27,28,29 91 


LEVITICUS. 


VII. 
Tin. 


XII. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XIV. 

XIV. 
XVII. 
XVII. 
XSIII. 
XXIV. 


1S5,1.?7 

3-5 196 

3,5,  11,15 196 

185 

2 192 

1S5 

2,8,13 196 

135,187 

4,e 196 

11 85 

12,21 So,  186 

31-85 192 

185 

0 192 

185 

11 186 

7-10,34 191 

14 76 

4 156 

16-20 192 

1S5 

O.S l.^s 

185 

46 186 

185 

3,  8 186,133 

10,21 ISS 

2(12 

2-6..196, 193,  2(10 

40,42,4:5 94 

14 77 


NTBIBEES. 

1 74,91,93 

I.    1^6 90 

I.    2 93 

I.    3 81,101,113 

I.  11 124 

I.  18 77 

I.  20 145 

I.  35 172 

I.  53 SO 

II 91 

11.  IS 158 

U.  23 168 


X. 

XI. 

XI. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVI. 

XVI. 

XVIII. 

XVIII. 

XVIII. 

XVIII. 

XX. 

XX. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI. 

XXVI 
XXVII. 
XXVII. 
XXVIIl, 

XXIX 

XXXI 
XXXII 
XXXII 
XXXII 

xxxiir 

XXXV 


PAGE 

26 168,173 

32 78,113 

33 171 

173,  i79 

2,  4 169 

10 186 

12 142 

1.5,22 1-16 

27 17(1,179 

23 146,179 

.34 146 

33 186 

39 86,92,144, 

171 

40-43 143 

40 144,  146 

43 93,  141,146 

173 

36,40,44 170 

47 171 

48 80,109,  173 

185 

197 

1 125,134 

2 134 

5 119,  125, 

195,  190 

17-23 125,  130 

124 

3,4 77 

22 lis 

31 131 

5 77 

86 77 

1 156 

19,25,47 77 

49 173 

9-11 190 

10 192 

14-18 191 

25-29 191 

4 120,190 

5.... 120,  124,1.38 

9 173 

5 72 

7-9 156 

8,29 6S 

33 142 

34 172 

85 68,159 

42,43 163 

59....  68,  142,150, 
160,  165,  178 

60 105 

.  02 171 

.     1-3 156 

1 105 

186 

186 

lis,  132 

1 lis 

.  17 9S 

30,82 103 

124 

7 174 


DEUTERONOMY. 

PACE 

I.     1 81 

II.     1 181 

II.     6 1.32 

III.  IS 108 

IV.  83 1.39 

V.  1 81 

VII.  1 139 

vin.  15 120,124, 

133, 190 
IX.    1 139 

X.  22 61,73 

XI.  23 139 

XVI 199 

XVI.     2,  5,  6.... 197, 198 

XXI.  15-17 145 

XVIII.  12-14 86 

XXVII,  XXVIIl 84 

xxxii.  10 120,189 

JOSHUA. 

I.  14 9S,  103 

IV.  12 98,  99 

VI.  12 103 

VII.  1 68,156 

VIII.  82,83 84 

VIII.  34 81 

VIII.  35 7S,  SI 

XIV.    7 157 

XVIII.    1 199 

XXI 193 

XXIV.  33 171 

JUDGES. 
VII.  11 98 

KUTH. 
IV.  1S,19 156 

1  S.VMUEL. 

II,  28 103 

IV.  VII 198 

XV.  XXX 129 

2  SAMUEL. 

XI.  11 95 

1  CHEONICLES. 

II.    4,7,9,10 15T 

II.     6 63,157 

II.  18 156 

u.  19 156 


230 


INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


PAGE 

n.  20-22 156,157 

II.  34,35 167 

VI.  1-3,87,38 157 

VII.    2 145 

VII.    4 145 

VII.  20,25 15S 

viii.  37 159 

IX.  iS 159 

XXIII.     8,9,11 170 

XXIII.  13-23 170 


2  CHRONICLES. 

XXX 200 

XXX.    5 195,  198 

XXX.  IG 195,193 

XXXV 200 

XXXV.  11 195,193 


PSALMS. 

LV.    6,T 1S9 

cv.  86 145 

ISAIAH. 
XXXI.    5 106 


JEREMIAH. 

S.  LUKE. 

PAGE 

II.     6 120,129, 

132,  1S9 

XXXII.    7,12 178 

XLviii.  23 189 

PAGE 

II.  52 32 

XIII.  16 81 

XVI.  22 31 

XVI.  29,31 30 

XXII.  37 80 

EZEKIEL. 

VII.  10 

.189 

S.  JOHN. 

AMOS. 

VI.  46.47 30 

V.  25 

.186 

ACTS. 

ZECHARIAH. 
XIII.     3 

.     5 

VII.    4 154 

VII.    6 154 

S.  MATTHEW. 

2  CORINTHIANS. 

I.  17 

V.  45 

XXIV.  29 

.  74 
.  81 
.  31 

XIII.    8 Title-page 

S.  MARK. 
Tl.  40 

.  99 

GALATIANS, 
III.  17 150 

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recommend  Dr.  Vaughan's  Revolutions  in  English  History  as  a  thoughtful,  interest- 
ing, scholarly  presentment  of  the  principal  sociological  vicissitudes  of  more  than  two 
thousand  years  of  our  British  existence.  Dr.  Vaughan's  composition  is  estramely 
lucid  and  nervous  ;  not  without  a  certain  sedate  ornamentation,  but  quite  fre«  troia 
tk«  ml-sleading  sxagserations  of  a  seductive  rhetoric 


J)-  Appleton  &  Uompamfs  Fublicationt. 


18    CHRISTIAN    CENTURIES. 

BY 

THE    REV.    JAMES    WHITE, 

AL'THOE    OF   A    HISTOEY    OF    FRANCE. 

1  Vol.  12mo.    Cloth.    538  pages.    $1  25. 


CONTENTS. 

1.  Cent. — The  Bad  Emperors.— II.  The  Good  Emperors. — III.  Anar- 
ehy  and  Confusion. — Growth  of  the  Christian  Church. — IV.  The  Kemoval 

to  Constantinople. — Establishment  of  Christianity. — Apostasy  of  Julian.— 
Settlement  of  the  Goths. — V.  End  of  tlie  Eoman  Empire. — Formation  of 
Modern  States. — Growth  of  Ecclesiastical  Authority. — VI.  Belisarius  and 
Narses  in  Italy — Settlement  of  the  Lombards. — Laws  of  Justinian. — Birth 
of  Mohiinmied. — VII.  Power  of  Kome  supported  by  the  Monks. — Con- 
quests of  the  Mohammedans. — VIIL  Temporal  Tower  of  the  Popes. — Tlie 
Empire  of  Cliarlemagfue. — IX. — Dismemberment  of  Charlemagne's  Em- 
pire.— Danish  Invasion  of  England. —  VVeakneso  of  France. — R rign  of 
Alfred. — X.  Darkness  and  Despair. — XI.  The  Commencement  of  Improve- 
ment.— Gregory  the  Seventh. — First  Crusade. — XII.  Elevation  of  Learn- 
ing.—Power  of  the  Church. — Thomas  a  Becket. — XIIL  First  Crusade 
against  Heretics. — The  Albigenses. — Magna  Cliarta. — Edward  I. — XIV. 
Abolition  of  the  Order  of  Templars. — Kise  of  Modern  Literature. — Schism 
of  the  Church. — XV.  Decline  of  Feudalism. — Agincourt. — Joan  of  Arc. — 
The  Printing  Press. — Discovery  of  America. — XVL  The  Reformation. — 
The  Jesuits. — Policy  of  Elizabeth. — XVII.  English  Rebellion  and  Revolu- 
tion.— Despotism  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth. — XVIII.  India. — America. — 
France. — Index. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Mr.  "White  possesses  in  a  liigh  degree  the  power  of  epitomizing — tliat 
faculty  which  enables  him  to  distil  the  essence  from  a  mass  of  facts,  and  to 
condense  it  in  description;  a  battle,  siege,  or  other  remarkable  event, 
which,  without  his  skill,  might  occupy  a  chapter,  is  compressed  within 
the  compass  of  a  page  or  two,  and  this  without  the  sacrifice  of  any  feature 
essential  or  significant. — Century. 

Mr.  White  has  been  very  happy  in  touching  upon  the  salient  points  in 
the  liistory  of  each  century  in  the  Christian  era,  and  yet  has  avoided  mak- 
ing his  work  a  mere  bald  analysis  or  chronological  table. — Pkov.  Journal, 

In  no  single  volume  of  English  literature  can  so  satisfying  and  clear  an 
Idea  of  the  historical  character  of  these  eighteen  centuries  be  obtained. — 
Bomb  Journal. 

In  this  volume  we  have  the  best  epitome  of  Christian  IIistout  ki- 
TANT.  This  is  high  praise,  but  at  the  same  time  just.  The  author's  pecu- 
liar success  is  in  making  the  great  points  and  facts  of  history  stand  out  in 
iharp  relief  His  style  may  be  said  to  be  stereoscopic,  and  the  eflfect  is  ex- 
••edinjrly  impressive. — Pkovidek^k  Pees*. 


J).  Appleton  (k  Company's  Puhlicatiom. 


MODERN  BRITISH  ESSAYISTS, 

COMPRISING 

Wilt  (f  ritinil  ^  PisceKaitcoiis  SSoiiis 


ALISON,  CAKIiYIiE, 

JEFFKEY,  I?IACAUI.AY, 

MACKINTOSH,  SYDNEY  SMITH, 

STEPHEN,  TALFOUBD, 

And  Prof.  ^VBIiSON. 

In  8  vols.,  large  8vo.,  uniform  Cloth,  S13.  Sheep,  S17   Half  Calf  Ext.,  $25. 

Each  Volume  to  be  had  separately. 

Alison's  Essays. 

Miscellaneous  Essays.  By  Archibald  Alison,  F.  E.  S.  Eepiinted  from  tli« 
English  originals,  with  the  author's  corrections  for  this  edition.  1  large  voL 
8vo.     Portrait.     Cloth,  $1  25 ;  sheep,  $1  75. 

<;arl3le's  Essays. 

Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Essays.  By  Thomas  Caklyle.  Complete  in  one 
volume.    1  large  vol.  8vo.    Portrait.     Cloth,  $2 ;  sheep,  $2  50. 

Jeffrey's  Essays. 

Contrihutions  to  the  Edinburgh  Review.     By   Francis  Jeffrey.    The  foui 
volumes  complete  in  one.    1  very  large  vol.  Svo.     Portrait.     Cloth,  $2  ;  sheep, 
$2  50. 
Macawlay's  Essays. 

Essays,  Critical  and  Miscellaneous.  By  T.  Babington  Macavlay.  New  and 
Revised  edition.     1  very  l.irge  vol.  Svo.     Portrait.     Cloth,  82 ;  sheei),  $2  50. 

Mackintoslt's  Essays. 

The  Miscellaneou.o  "Works  of  tho  Pkight  Honorable   Sir  James  Mackintosb. 
The  three  volumes  in  one.    1  vol.  large  Svo.     Portrait.     Cloth,  $2 ;  sheep, 
$2  50. 
Sydney  Sasitli's  "Works. 

The  Works  of  the  Eev.  Sydney  Smith.  Three  volumes  complete  In  ono.  1 
large  vol.  Svo.    Portrait.    Cloth,  $1  25 ;  sheep,  $1  75. 

Talfourd's  and  Steplten's  Essays. 

Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Writings  of  T.  Noon  Talfoukd,  author  of  "  [on,* 
&c.  Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Ess.ays  of  James  Stephen.  In  1  vol.  largo  Svo 
Portrait.     Cloth,  $125;   sheep,  $1  75. 

CVSIson's  Essays. 

Tho  Eecreations  of  Cheistopiieu  Nop.tii  [Prof.  .John  Wilson.]  Complut*  io  i 
»ol.  Urtrc  Svo.     Portrait.     ClotVi,  $1  25 ;  she.eD.  $1  75. 


D.  Appleton  tfc  Co.'s  Publications. 


History    of  France, 

From  the  Earliest,  Times  to  MDCCCXLVIII. 

By   the  REV.    JAMES    WHITE. 

Author  of  the  ''Eighteen    Christian    Centuries." 
One  voLUMK,  octavo.    571  pages.    $2. 

This  History  aims  at  something  higher  than  a  mere  epitome  of  events 
While  it  gives  tlie  results  from  its  author's  mind  of  his  various  reading 
tather  than  the  abstracts  of  wliat  lie  read,  it  yet  devotes  sufficient  space 
to  any  occurrences  wliieh  seem  to  have  a  general  bearing  on  the  progress 
or  character  of  the  nation. 

It  is  believed  to  be  more  especially  adapted  to  the  benefit  of  general 
readers  wlio  are  anxious  for  historical  as  well  as  other  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge, but  who,  in  respect  to  the  History  of  France,  are  repelled  from  the 
atteiupt  to  acquire  it  by  the  dryness  of  the  narrative  and  the  uninterest. 
ing  style  of  the  smaller  volumes  devoted  to  the  subject,  and  by  the  time 
and  labor  required  for  the  perusal  of  the  more  extensive  and  valuable 
works 

This  book  has  had  the  highest  commendation  from  the  British  critical 
press  generally. 

Speaking  of  its  conciseness  and  attractive  style,  the  Athenaeum  says  : 

"  Its  600  pages  contain  every  leading  incident  worth  the  telling,  and 
abound  in  word-painting,  whereof  a  paragraph  has  oftjn  as  much  active 
life  in  it  as  one  ot  those  inch-square  etchings  of  the  grea',  Callot,  in  which 
may  be  clearly  seen  whole  armies  contending  in  bloody  arbitrament,  and 
as  many  incidents  of  battle  as  may  be  gazed  at  in  the  miles  of  canvass  in 
the  military  picture  galleries  at  Versailles.  *  *  Especiahy  skilful  is 
Mr.  White  in  the  depicting  of  the  great  revolutions  of  France,  and  their 
consequences." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  HERODOTUS. 

A  NEW  ENGLISH  VERSION,  EDITED  WITH  COPIOUS  NOTES  AND 
APPENDICES,  ILLUSTRATING  THE  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY  OF 
HERODOTUS,  FROM  THE  MOST  RECENT  SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION; 
AND  EMBODYING  THE  CHIEF  RESULTS.  HISTORICAL  AND  ETHNO- 
GRAPIIICAL,WHICIIHAVE  KEEN  OBTAINED  IN  TUK  PROGRESS  OF 
CUNEIFORM  AND  HIEROGLYl'IIICAL  DISCOVERY.  BY  GEORGE 
KAWLINSON,  M.  A.,  LATE  FELLOW  AND  TUTOR  OF  EXETER  COL- 
LEGE, OXFORD,  ASSISTED  BY  COL.  SIR  HENRY  RAWLINSON.  K, 
C.  B.,  AND  SIR  J.  G.  WILKINSON.  F.  Pv.  S.  WITH  MAPS  AND  ILLUS- 
TRATIONS.    FOUR  VOLUMES,  OCTAVO.     $10. 

The  object  of  this  work  is  to  present  the  English  reader  with  a  correct  yet  free 
translation,  and  to  collect  and  methodize  the  chief  illustrations  of  the  author,  which 
modern  learning  and  research  have  accumulated.  Parallel  with  the  prosress  of  the 
work,  a  series  of  fresh  discoveries  have  been  made  upon  its  (to  us)  more  import- 
ant subjects — the  ethnography  of  the  East,  and  the  history  and  geoicraphy  of  Baby- 
lonia and  Assyria.  The  results  of  these  discoveries,  up  to  the  latest,  "have  been 
Incorporated  in  the  illustrative  part  of  tho  work — great  part  of  it  having  been  from 
Umo  to  tires  re-written,  a,s  new  light  has  been  thrown  upon  doubtful  points. 

This  feature,  together  with  the  labor  of  scholarship  given  to  the  task,  rondtrf 
tt«  work  one  of  the  most  valu.able  and  erudite  of  modern  uublications. 


D.  Appleton  <£•  Co.'s  Publications. 


PHILOSOPHICAL    WORKS. 


Course  of  the  History  of  Modern  Philosophy, 

By  Victor  Cousiir.  Translated  by  O.  "W.  "Wight.  2  voU. 
8vo.     Cloth,  $3. 

Cousiii's  Lectures  on  the  True.,  the  Beautiful.^  and 

the  Good.     1  vol.  8vo.     Cloth,  $1  50. 

Cousin'' s  Philosophy  of  the  Beautiful.     12mo. 

Cloth,  G3c. 

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Arranged  and  Edited  by  O.  W.  "Wight.  1  vol.  8vo.  Cloth, 
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Rational  Cosmology  y    or,  the  Eternal  Principles 

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its  Origin  «i  Greece  doimi  to  the  Present  Day.  By  G.  H. 
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